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 #11 Minutes - amended
September 5, 2013
2:00 p.m.
Location: City Council Chamber, 1st floor,
City Hall – St. James Building; 117 West Duval Street,
In attendance: Council Members Greg Anderson (Chair), Reginald
Brown , Richard Clark, John Crescimbeni, Johnny Gaffney, Stephen Joost, Matt
Schellenberg, Robin Lumb, Clay Yarborough
Also: Council
Members Jim Love, Kimberly Daniels
Also: Janice
Billy, Kim Taylor, Kyle Billy, Tommy Carter,, Brian Parks, Philip Peterson -
Council Auditor’s Office; Carol Owens – Legislative Services Division; Peggy
Sidman – Office of General Counsel; Jeff Clements – Council Research Division;
Michelle Barth and Margo Klosterman –
Mayor’s Office; Glenn Hansen and Angela Moyer - Budget Office
Meeting Convened: 2:02 p.m.
Chairman Anderson announced
that the committee would take up the Mayport Ferry budget, then various cleanup
items, then council members may offer budget amendments for consideration.
Mayport Ferry
Kyle Billy of the Council
Auditor’s Office presented the ferry’s budget which was approved by the ferry
commission earlier this week. Council
Member Crescimbeni, Chair of the St. Johns River Ferry Commission, explained
the budget, noting that a $449,715 General Fund subsidy will be needed to
balance the budget for FY14. The ferry
will be shut down for the month of December 2013 so the ferry can be put in dry
dock for a complete Coast Guard-mandated inspection. Mr. Crescimbeni introduced ferry ambassadors
in the audience. He stated that
negotiations are on-going with the JTA as another funding source and this
proposed budget may be amended before final approval on September 24th.
Council Member Gaffney opposed a JTA
subsidy to the ferry when the authority is preparing to raise bus fares on
senior citizens.
Committee members debated the
value of the ferry and where it should be most appropriately funded. Two of the three Beaches cities and Nassau
County contributed funding to the ferry in FY13 but have not yet committed to
funding in FY14. Members discussed the
priority of funding the ferry versus funding other important community needs.
Motion: on
the Council Auditor’s Mayport Ferry handout p. 3, approve Council Auditor’s
recommendation #1 - approved 6-3
Motion
(Clark): call the question – fails 4-5
Motion: on
the Council Auditor’s Mayport Ferry handout p. 3, approve Council Auditor’s
recommendation #2 - approved 6-3
References from this point refer to Council Auditor’s
handout “Wrap-Up Items”
Motion: on
p. 2, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #2 to waive Sec. 634.102 of the
Ordinance Code that requires that at least 25% of the Court Cost Courthouse
Trust Fund must be used for courthouse maintenance purposes – approved
Council Member Yarborough
discussed CAO item #6 regarding the notice requirement for closing fire
stations and libraries. An ordinance has
been drafted and will be introduced next Tuesday to waive the notice posting
requirement so that the public will not be unduly alarmed by seeing closure
notices on facilities that the Finance Committee has recommended for restored
funding. Council Member Brown asked for
a clarification of the definition of the term “substantial change in use” of
those facilities.
Motion: on
p. 2, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #3 to place $90,000 for the
manatee study contract on the carry-forward Schedule AF – approved
Motion: on
p. 2, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #4 to restore part-time hours
and overtime funding for Group Health from Group Health’s fund balance rather
than from the Special Council Contingency – approved
Motion: on
the Council Auditor’s handout entitled Additional Wrap Up Items/Possible Floor
Amendments, approve item #7 to remove the waiver language from the budget
ordinance regarding borrowing for purchase of fleet vehicles (the City will not
be borrowing for the vehicles) – approved
Motion: on
p. 3, approve Council Auditor’s recommendation #10 to privatize the parts
operation of Fleet Management – approved
MPS parking garages: Kyle
Billy explained that the City’s early purchase option for the City-subsidized
parking garages expires on December 31st of this year. If the City notifies MPS that it is
exercising the option to purchase before the end of this year the cost will be
$52 million; if the early option period expires then the price increases to $60
million on January 1, 2014. CFO Ronnie Belton stated that the City is in
ongoing negotiations with MPS and will provide the Council with recommendation
on the purchase by October 1st.
Kim Taylor announced that the
Special Council Contingency account currently stands at negative $49,623,293
(1.1377 mill equivalent).
Council Member amendments
Chairman Anderson announced
that he would begin with amendments presented in writing, then take up oral
amendments afterward. Council members
will have 3 minutes to propose their amendments and the committee will have 15
minutes to debate each proposal.
Motion
(Anderson):: dedicate 0.25 mills ($10.7 million) to paying down the City’s
unfunded pension liability by placing the funds in a designated Special Council
Contingency fund for that purpose – fails
1-8 (Anderson in favor)
Council Member Lee opposed
tying the millage rate to pension issues, which the Council voted not to do
when it defeated the Mayor’s pension reform proposal. Her preference is to allocate the additional
resources provided by the additional authorized millage to public safety, parks
and recreation, and other essential public services. Committee members opposed
the proposal as a piecemeal attempt at dealing with a far larger problem that
will require much more research and debate.
Motion
(Joost): restore funding for 2 civil service positions eliminated from the
Military Affairs, Veterans and Disabled Services Division at a cost of $119,945
from Special Council Contingency
Amendment
(Schellenberg): restore $119,945 to the department’s budget but prohibit its
use for funding positions – fails 3-6
Amendment (Crescimbeni):
restore the 2 positions from the vacancy list and eliminate 2 other positions
added to the department during FY13 by means of position reclassifications
Motion (Schellneberg):
call the question – approved
The Joost motion as amended
by the Crescimbeni amendment was approved
Motion
(Joost): restore $350,000 to the Cultural Services Grant program from the
Special Council Contingency fund – approved
5-4
Motion
(Gaffney): appropriate $163,908 from Special Council Contingency to reopen the
Brentwood branch library
Amendment (Lumb):
also appropriate $102,193 to reopen the Maxville branch library
The Gaffney motion as amended
by the Lumb amendment was approved 5-4
Motion
(Crescimbeni): appropriate $324,091 from Special Council Contingency to the
Jacksonville Journey budget to restore funding for LISC – fails 4-5
Motion
(Crescimbeni): appropriate $277,633 from the Special Council Contingency fund
to restore $277,633 for the Ex Offender Employment Program – fails 4-5
Motion (Schellenberg):
appropriate $3,800 from the Special Council Contingency fund to permit
restoration of an accidentally omitted position in the Parks and Recreation
Department – approved
Motion (Anderson
for Love): appropriate $5.1 million from Special Council Contingency to the
Public Works Department fund construction of the Parramore Road project and
amend the CIP to make the project a funded project in FY14 – fails 2-4
Motion (Anderson
for Boyer): change the funding source for the $150,000 project for Losco Road
trail signage from the District 5 Loblolly account and have the Parks and
Recreation Department bring the Finance Department a list of all of the
contractually mandated expenditures from the citywide Loblolly account for
purposes of a floor amendment to add those projects to the CIP before final
passage – approved
Motion
(Schellenberg): add the LaSalle Street Outfall to the CIP at a total cost of $7
million with $2 million allocated to FY15 – approved
Council Member Lee urged a
complete overhaul of the CIP development process so that projects cannot be
removed from the program without City Council’s approval. Projects cannot be allowed to disappear
before they’re completed or affirmatively discontinued.
Motion (Anderson
for Boyer): restore the Metropolitan Park Redevelopment project to the CIP at a
total project cost of $13,878,534, with no funding for FY14 – approved
The committee expressed
surprise at finding that the funding for the Metro Park project had been
reallocated to an economic development project on Riverside Avenue by a prior
ordinance last December.
Motion (Anderson
for Daniels): appropriate $800,000 from Special Council Contingency fund to
restore funding for the early learning initiatives budget of the Jacksonville
Children’s Commission and restore 6 employee positions associated with that
funding – fails 2-5
The committee discussed the
Children’s Commission’s early learning programs, what services are provided
in-house by the JCC, what is contracted out, and how the funding for this early
learning initiative relates to the $1.4 million for early learning also
allocated to the JCC through the Jacksonville Journey program.
Motion (Anderson
for Lee): appropriate $56,350 from Special Council Contingency an authorize
2,600 part-time hours to keep the Carvill Community Center open and staffed at
the FY13 level
Amendment (Yarborough):
allocate $56,350 from the Blue Cypress community center to restore full funding
for operation of the Carvill Community Center and allocate the remainder back
to Special Council Reserve – approved
Motion (Anderson
for Holt): appropriate $60,510 from fair share investment earnings and $31,304
from Duval Road project investment pool earnings to provide $91,814 to the
Duval Road expansion project to fill a shortfall in JIA CRA tax increment
funding for the project – approved
Motion
(Yarborough): appropriate $1,058,498 to the Public Works Department for
preventive maintenance purposes, utilizing $229,694 from JEA utility rebates to
the City and $828,804 from Special Council Contingency – approved 3-2
In response to questions from
Council Member Crescimbeni, Public Works Director Jim Robinson and Brian Parks
and Robert Campbell of the Council Auditor’s Office described their meeting
earlier this week to clarify questions posed by the committee at an earlier
budget hearing regarding the number of position vacancies in the department’s
employee cap and a comparison of the department’s current and proposed budget
at various points in the budget process. Council Member Crescimbeni questioned
the seemingly inordinate length of time it takes the department to fill vacant
positions, which Mr. Robinson attributed in part to problems dealing with the
Employee Services Department.
Motion
(Brown): list the Lonnie Miller Park water park project in the CIP, with a $4
million total cost and no allocation for FY14 – approved
Motion
(Anderson for Boyer): restore $325,810 in Public Service Grant funding to
restore the current year’s funding level, less $14,094 previously restored to
the Sulzbacher Homeless Center, for a net restoration of $311,716 – fails 1-4
Council Member Clark said
that the Council needs to make a concerted effort to consolidate all public
service funding into one bucket so that it’s easy to identify exactly what is
being spent every year. Currently there
are too many silos funding the same agencies and it’s hard to identify how much
is allocated altogether. Council Member Yarborough
noted that the public service grants and cultural service grants have been held
relatively harmless over the past several years even as other departments and
personnel have been reduced.
Motion
(Clark): identify and strike every unfunded position in the budget, including
positions with a $1 salary as a placeholder – withdrawn
Council Member Yarborough
asked if the committee wanted to restore the $338,000 in funding previously
placed “below the line” from the Copy Center budget. Council Member Crescimbeni suggested
consideration of bringing all City printing work back in-house.
Phillip Peterson announced
that the Special Council Contingency now stands at negative $51,023,305, a
millage equivalent of 1.1698 mills. The total millage rate would be 11.2051.
2013-464
(budget ordinance): substitute the budget ordinance to appropriate $51,023,305
to the Special Council Contingency account and place the additional tax
increment district revenue into cash carry-over accounts except for the Beaches
tax increment district, the revenues from which will go directly to the Beaches
cities, and to incorporate all of the actions taken by the Finance Committee on
the budget to date – approved 4-1
2013-464:
tentatively approve as amended – fails
4-1/deferred
Peggy Sidman and Cindy
Laquidara explained the alternatives for the committee to consider in moving
the budget bills, given that a 9-member committee requires 5 votes in one
direction to report a bill out to the full Council, given that only 5 members
are present. The committee could vote unanimously in the negative which would
report the bill out, the Finance Committee could notice a special meeting for
Monday, or the Council President could discharge the bill at next Tuesday’s
council meeting for a vote. Pursuant to
state law and noticing requirements, the budget must be tentatively approved by
the Council next Tuesday and advertised for final approval on the 24th.
2013-461
(millage levy for GSD minus the Beaches and Baldwin): amend to levy 11.2051
mills and calculate the corresponding rollback rate differential – approved 4-1
2013-461:
tentatively approve as amended - fails
4-1/deferred
2013-462
(GSD millage levy for the beaches cities): amend to levy 7.9144 mills and
calculate the corresponding rollback rate differential – approved 4-1
2013-462:
tentatively approve as amended - fails
4-1/deferred
2013-463 (GSD
millage levy for the Baldwin): amend to levy 9.4319 mills and calculate the
corresponding rollback rate differential –
approved 4-1
2013-463: tentatively
approve as amended - fails 4-1/deferred
The committee was in recess from 8:26 to 8:44.
Council Member Lumb returned
to the meeting. Acting Council President Yarborough appointed Council Members
Bishop and Daniels as acting members of the Finance Committee for the remainder
of tonight’s meeting.
2013-464 (budget ordinance): substitute the budget ordinance to appropriate $51,023,305 to the Special Council Contingency account and place the additional tax increment district revenue into cash carry-over accounts except for the Beaches tax increment district, the revenues from which will go directly to the Beaches cities, and to incorporate all of the actions taken by the Finance Committee on the budget to date – approved 7-1
2013-464:
tentatively approve as amended – approved
7-1
2013-461 (millage
levy for GSD minus the Beaches and Baldwin): amend to levy 11.2051 mills and
calculate the corresponding rollback rate differential – approved 7-1
2013-461: tentatively
approve as amended - approved 7-1
2013-462 (GSD
millage levy for the beaches cities): amend to levy 7.9144 mills and calculate
the corresponding rollback rate differential – approved 7-1
2013-462: tentatively
approve as amended - approve 7-1
2013-463 (GSD
millage levy for the Baldwin): amend to levy 9.4319 mills and calculate the
corresponding rollback rate differential
– approved 7-1
2013-463: tentatively
approve as amended – approved 7-1
2013-465 (CIP
ordinance): deferred
2013-466 (Banking Fund ordinance): deferred
2013-467 (5-year
IT capital budget): deferred
Chairman Anderson thanked the committee and staff for great work in a difficult process.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
Jeff Clements, City Council Research
Posted 9.5.13 9:00 p.m.