OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
CHERYL L. BROWN 117 WEST DUVAL STREET, SUITE
425
DIRECTOR 4TH FLOOR, CITY
HALL
OFFICE (904) 630-1452 JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32202
FAX (904) 630-2906
E-MAIL: CLBROWN@coj.net
Finance Committee Budget Hearing #8 Minutes
August 29, 2013
9:00 a.m.
Location: City Council Chamber, 1st floor,
City Hall – St. James Building; 117 West Duval Street,
In attendance: Council Members Greg Anderson (Chair),
Richard Clark, John Crescimbeni, Matt Schellenberg, Robin Lumb dep. 3:44), Clay
Yarborough
Excused: Johnny Gaffney, Reginald Brown
Also:
Also: Kirk
Sherman, Kim Taylor – Council Auditor’s Office; Carol Owens – Legislative
Services Division; Peggy Sidman – Office of General Counsel; Cheryl Brown –
Director/Council Secretary; Jeff Clements – Council Research Division; Ronnie
Belton, Teresa Eichner and Michele Barth – Mayor’s Office; Glenn Hansen and Angela
Moyer - Budget Office
Meeting Convened: 9:04 a.m.
Council Auditor Kirk Sherman
updated the committee on the status of the Special Council Contingency Fund,
which currently stands at negative $26.1 million (0.6 millage equivalent).
UF Health Jacksonville
indigent care
Penny Thompson, VP for
Government Relations at UF Health (formerly Shands Jacksonville) introduced CEO
Russ Armistead to make introductory remarks.
Mr. Armistead recapped the history of the contract for the lease of the
hospital and for indigent care. The
City’s $23.8 million is used through the state’s disproportionate share to
produce $45 million in revenue to the hospital. Jacksonville is a net importer
of Medicaid funding within Florida because of the effects of transfers from
south Florida. UF Health treated $14,500
indigent care cases last year, up from 8,000-10,000 in recent years. The City’s funding covers 31% of the
hospital’s indigent care costs. UF
Health has had $30 million operating losses the last two years despite having
extremely low costs and producing extremely high quality care. Mr. Armistead stated that UF Health has
reached a crossroads – it can’t keep going at the current rate of losses and
needs a minimum of $5 million additional.
Turning the hospital back to the City would have devastating results to
health care in the city and to the city’s economy. UF Health is the fifth largest employer in
Jacksonville and has a $500 million budget.
Council Member Lumb stated
that the City’s legal obligation for funding indigent care under current
Florida state law is $4 per head ($3.5 million based on current population). He
objects to the City’s indigent care funding being used to produce
disproportionate share funds that are then applied to UF Health’s Medicaid care
costs, not to unpaid indigent care costs. He asked Mr. Armistead about the
difference between the actual cost of care and the billed amount, about
Medicaid leverage, and about the amount of uncompensated care provided by
Jacksonville’s other hospitals. Mr. Lumb
suggested exploring the possibility of requiring all City employees to utilize
UF Health as their hospital provider for all care under the City’s health
insurance program. He also suggested
that the Mayor convene the CEOs of all the hospitals in town and attempt to get
the other hospitals to pick up more of the uncompensated care burden.
In response to questions from
Council Member Yarborough, Mr. Armistead explained the difference between
actual cost of care, the billed cost of care, and the ultimate paid
amount. The billed cost exceeds the
actual cost because the hospital’s uncompensated costs have to be spread over
paying patients. The hospital actually
receives about 20% of its total billings for services provided.
In response to a question
from Council Member Lumb about the potential effects of the City requiring all
of its employees to utilize UF Health for hospitalizations, Mr. Armistead said
that it would be a huge financial help to UF Health to have the private paying
business which would help to subsidize indigent care operations. Mr. Lumb was curious about why Jacksonville
is the only county in the state prohibited from levying a millage rate for its
public hospital. Mr. Armistead reported
that Miami-Dade County levies both a sales tax and a millage rate for Jackson
Memorial Hospital which produces about $300 million for their $1.5 billion
budget. Council Member Clark noted that
Jacksonville and Miami-Dade are the only two counties in the state that can’t
put an indigent care line item on the property tax bill. A bill to that effect
passed the legislature several years ago but was vetoed by Governor Crist. Several committee members expressed the hope
that UF Health would work with the City and other hospitals to deal with indigent
care issues.
The committee was in recess from 10:12 to 10:16 a.m.
References from this point refer to Budget Hearing #8
Handout – August 29, 2013
Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff John Rutherford gave
an overview of his budget needs, the Mayor’s extraordinary lapse amount, and
his controllable costs from which reductions can be made. He stated that
elimination of all of his controllable non-personnel costs put together would
not be sufficient to meet the extraordinary lapse. Jacksonville has fewer officers per capita by
far than other Florida jurisdiction and has reduced personnel by several
hundred over the past couple of years.
Jacksonville’s crime rate is down overall, but the rate of decline is
leveling off as police officers and community service officers are reduced and
the murder rate continues to be unacceptably high. He requested restoration of the Mayor’s
proposed extraordinary lapse of $27.95 million.
Motion: on
p. 4, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #1 – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 4, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #2 – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 5, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #3 – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 5, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #4 – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 5, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #5A/paragraph 1 (remove 104
vehicles from proposed vehicle replacement list) and 5B, paragraph 3 (amend
Schedules B and B4c) –
approved unanimously
Defer consideration of
recommendation #5B until tomorrow.
Motion:
approve the Sheriff’s request for restoration of one additional position –
budget and management analyst – at a cost of $59,628 – approved unanimously
Motion
(Yarborough): restore the Sheriff’s requested restoration list of $27,951,429,
less $200,000
The committee discussed the
Sheriff’s restoration list (see attached Exhibit 1) which represents the
Sheriff’s stated need for full operation of his department for FY13-14. Pending
Ordinance 2013-382 which would authorize the Sheriff to retain his FY12-13 year-end
budget surplus would be affected by the Sheriff’s proposed restoration list. Kirk Sherman reported that the surplus amount
won’t be known until the FY13 budget closeout in late November or early
December, but he and the Sheriff estimated that the figure would be in the
range of $7 million. He also noted that
while the Sheriff’s office is projecting a budget surplus for this year, the
remainder of the General Fund is currently running a deficit. Sheriff Rutherford indicated his willingness
to support withdrawal of Ordinance 2013-382 if the Finance Committee approves
this restoration concept.
Motion
(Clark): take the Sheriff’s estimated $7 million in FY13 budget savings and
appropriate $20,751,429 to produce $27,751,429 to fund the Sheriff’s requested
restoration list – approved unanimously
Legislation will be drafted
(similar to 2012-450) for introduction at the next Council meeting to amend the
FY13 budget to reflect the allocation of the Sheriff’s year-end fund balance to
his FY14 budget, and Ordinance 2013-382 will be moved for withdrawal the next
Council meeting.
Motion: on
p. 8, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #1 – unanimously approved
Motion: on
p. 9, approve Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 and 2 - unanimously approved
The committee was in recess from 11:42 a.m. to 1:07
p.m.
Kirk Sherman updated the
Special Council Contingency – negative $46,896,662 (equivalent of 1.0752 mills)
Neighborhoods Department
Department Director Terrance
Ashanti-Barker asked the committee swap one vacant position (environmental
quality technician) for a filled position proposed to be eliminated
(environmental specialist 1).
Motion
(Crescimbeni): on p. 21, replace the proposed elimination of an environmental
specialist 1 position with an environmental quality technician – approved unanimously
The committee and Chief of
Animal Care and Protective Services discussed a prior action by the committee
to eliminate one supervisory position and utilize the funding to hire 2 field
officers. Mr. Trebatoski indicated that a problem has arisen with regard to an
existing employee reverting to one of the proposed new positions.
Motion
(Crescimbeni): rescind the committee’s prior action to restore funding for one
supervisory position and utilize the funding to hire 2 field officers and instead
revert to the original proposed restoration of the managerial position – fails 2-4 (Clark and Crescimbeni in
favor)
Motion: on
p. 19, rescind the committee’s previous approval of Council Auditor’s recommendation
#3 to restore funding for one position of Animal Care and Protective Services
Manager to eliminate a duplicate restoration – approved unanimously
Special Services
Department
The committee discussed
potential locations for employees of the Behavioral and Human Services Division
if the lease for their current office space on Art Museum Drive is
discontinued. Public Buildings has
located potential office space in the Ed Ball Building and on the second floor
of City Hall. Johnnetta Moore, Acting
Chief of the Division, explained the division’s special needs, given its
clientele, for privacy and compliance with federal HIPAA requirements, as well
as the need for sufficient free parking.
Motion: on
p. 14, restore $128,975 to maintain the division’s current lease for office
space on Art Museum Drive
Motion
(Schellenberg): amend to provide that funding for the lease extension will be
provided by deleting two vacant positions (Director of the Special Services
Department and an executive assistant to that director) and utilizing the
salary funding for the lease – approved
6-1 (Clark opposed)
Council Member Crescimbeni
requested the Office of General Counsel to prepare the necessary legislation to
amend the Ordinance Code to reflect the deletion of listed positions to reflect
the Finance Committee’s recommendations.
Motion
(Joost): eliminate the positions of Chief of Behavioral and Human Services and
Chief of Senior Services - approved
unanimously
Council Member Joost asked
that Cindy Funkhouser, Executive Director of the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the
Homeless, address the committee. Ms.
Funkhouser reported that the Sulzbacher Center has lost 40% of its City funding
over the past 2 years, which is severely impacting the center’s ability to
serve its large clientele as the City’s official homeless shelter.
Motion
(Schellenberg): reduce the amount of public service grants to agencies funded
in the homeless services public priority category (except for the Sulzbacher
Center) on an across the board basis in the percentage necessary to produce
$268,515 and allocate that amount to the Sulzbacher Center as an addition to
its funding approved at an earlier budget hearing
Motion
(Crescimbeni): eliminate the vacant position of Chief of Compensation and
Benefits in the Department of Employee Services and reallocate the funding
associated with that position ($115,951) to the Sulzbacher Center as an
additional public service grant – withdrawn
Motion
(Anderson): made an additional/enhanced public service grant to the Sulzbacher
Center in the amount of $268,515 utilizing the Special Council Contingency fund
Motion
(Crescimbeni): have the Council Auditor calculate the amount of funding that
would be necessary to grant the Sulzbacher Center an amount of City funding for
FY14 that is equal to its funding for FY13 – approved 5-2 (Clark and Joost opposed)
Several committee members
stated that the purpose of the Public Service Grant process was to “take the
politics out of the process” and let objective staff analysis and an appointed
review board make the recommendations for funding. Council Member Schellenberg indicated he has
little confidence in the fairness of the current process despite the recent
attempts at reform, and he intends to be more heavily involved in overseeing next
year’s PSG process.
CFO Ronnie Belton informed
the committee that the Chief of Senior Services position the committee voted to
eliminate earlier is in the process of being filled and a job offer has been
made and accepted. The committee took no
action to rescind the elimination.
Mosquito Control
Motion: on
p. 23, approve Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 and 2 – approved unanimously
Air Pollution EPA
Motion: on
p. 27, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #1 - approved unanimously
Hazardous Waste Program
Motion: on
p. 30, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #1 – approved unanimously
Animal Care and Protective
Services
Motion: on
p. 31, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #1 – approved unanimously
Adult Arcades Regulation
Motion: on
p. 39, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #1 – approved unanimously
Mel Cook, the administrator
of arcade regulation, described the function of his office and the amount of
work, which includes regulation of transient vendor permits, ice cream trucks,
and illegal slot machines. He answered
questions from the committee about the re-opening of adult video arcades and
how the office is dealing with regulation. Mr. Cook explained that the Florida
Legislature passed a law in the last session that the arcades are using to
justify their new operation as legal after they reprogrammed how their machines
operate, but the issue is still in some doubt.
The Office of General Counsel has advised Mr. Cook to hold off on enforcement
for the time being until some clarity is developed at the state level about the
effect of the change in state law. Jason
Teal is handling this issue for the Office of General Counsel.
Parks and Recreation
Department
Department Director Kelly
Boree distributed a table showing 4 classifications of community centers based
on proposed use for the next fiscal year, ranging from fully staffed and
programmed to closed and designated for repurposing. The committee discussed the relative use and
programming levels of the various centers and the needs of various communities
they serve.
Motion
(Yarborough): restore funding for the department’s listed Priority 1 recreation
centers (Balis, Bethesda, Blue Cypress, Clanzel T. Brown, Johnnie Walker,
Oceanway) at a cost of $614,279, less the utility costs already included in the
proposed budget - approved unanimously
Council Member Jones pointed
out that the decreasing level of programming at some centers is a large part of
the reason for their poor attendance and that hurts their evaluation in this process. They aren’t being attended and used because
the programming has gone away, and the lack of attendance is being used to
justify their closure.
Motion
(Yarborough): move to reconsider the previous vote on restoring the Priority 1
centers - approved unanimously
Motion
(Yarborough): appropriate $625,798 to restore funding for both the Priority 1
and Priority 2 recreation centers (add Priority 2 – Dinsmore, Forestview, H.T.
Jones, and Mitchell to the previous motion) - approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 42, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #3 - approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 43, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #4 - approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 42, approve Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 and 2 - approved unanimously
Kirk Sherman updated the status of the Special Council Contingency Fund – negative $47,814,400 (1.0963 mill equivalent).
Chairman Anderson reviewed the schedule for the wrap-up meeting tomorrow. In response to a question from Peggy Sidman of the General Counsel’s office, it was determined that the meeting tentatively scheduled for next Thursday will be kept on the schedule and noticed in case it is needed after tomorrow’s wrap-up.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:04 p.m.
Jeff Clements, City Council Research
Posted 8.30.13 11:00 a.m.