There was an air of ease heading into City Council’s budget finale Monday.
The process of balancing the city’s spending plan had been relatively smoother compared to several years past. Humor often entered dialogue. The conclusion wasn’t expected to be too difficult.
Before the final 19-0 vote, though, it wasn’t exactly simple.
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Disagreements cropped up, the biggest of the night over $337,000 or so. It’s a small part of the city’s more than $1 billion plan, but a philosophical difference essentially boiled down to spending on infrastructure needs or money for public safety.
The issue: Council member Tommy Hazouri wanted funding placed back into the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue budget to restore salaries of safety officers.
The Finance Committee had cut those, with several in the group citing a lack of promised savings that came with promotions this year. Council member John Crescimbeni thought it was a political ploy by former Mayor Alvin Brown to garner support during a close election.
A compromise between the committee and fire leadership kept nine such officers in place, but didn’t leave them in promoted positions. Hazouri pushed — he wanted to demonstrate their importance and show support for public safety.
The problem was the money came from a drainage improvement account, an area where the city is putting $500,000 over the $6 million minimum recommended and has a backlog of $24 million in needs, said council member Lori Boyer.
Those needs are felt in every district, she said, and pulling from that source “is really unfortunate and a bad decision.”
It was Hazouri’s decision to try and pull from the account, with him saying it was the best source at the time.
Boyer shot back that Hazouri might want to take the money from the library system. It’s an area Hazouri has championed, with council adding $1 million more in this budget for additional hours at area branches.
Hazouri later said that idea was “silly,” and the disagreement remained.
At one point, Crescimbeni said Hazouri had been listening to the unions instead of the city’s new fire chief, who said the compromise reached was adequate.
Before the two really could engage, council President Greg Anderson had to step in.
“We’re going to chill out right now,” he said, which moved the discussion on.
Infrastructure initially won the battle with an 11-8 vote.
Before the end of the night, the vote was reconsidered, with an 11-8 vote in support of restoring the salaries. At first, there was confusion for what was thought to be a repeat of the earlier vote. But, council members Scott Wilson, Katrina Brown and Reggie Gaffney had switched their votes.
Ultimately, the money was pulled from drainage for the salaries.
As the five-plus hour meeting wore on, it turned out to not be the only disagreement among members.
Council member Bill Gulliford pitched for the city to provide $25,000 to Jacksonville Beach for the purchase of fireworks. The annual July 4th event benefited more than just the Beaches communities, he said, and the city should contribute.
“So it’s fireworks, not firemen?” Hazouri jokingly asked, before saying he couldn’t support the idea.
Yet, it wasn’t the substance of the bill that rankled Matt Schellenberg. It was that Gulliford was pitching the idea on the day of the budget instead of during the actual budget hearings. Gulliford took exception to the scolding, saying it showed a lack of respect for how council members wanted to do their business.
The amendment was later amended for the city to pitch in half, with a maximum of $25,000.
Despite the few dustups over the expenses, most of the priorities laid out in Mayor Lenny Curry’s budget remained.
Public safety still will add 40 additional police officers and 40 community service officers. Jacksonville Journey receives a $3 million boost. The Liberty Street collapse is being fixed quicker and for less money. Libraries kept their additional hours. Infrastructure spending is back in place.
On those, the council agreed.
All the while, the man whose name was attached to that budget watched the proceedings from his 4th floor office. “Prime time” television, he called it.
“I’ve got cops,” Curry said. “I’ve got investments in kids. I’ve got investments in infrastructure and public works. I’ve got what I promised to taxpayers.”
Now, Curry said, it’s a matter of putting the money to good work, to ensure taxpayers it’s properly being spent.
He was grateful for how his first budget went smoothly. And for the hard work of his staff.
Shortly after it was passed, Sam Mousa walked into the mayor’s large conference room. Curry’s chief administrative officer spent much of the summer poring over the spending plan with his financial team to get the now-approved budget in place. It wasn’t lost on Curry.
“Good job Sam,” he said with a handshake.
Mousa, a city hall veteran, had a simple reply.
“Thank you, mayor.”
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