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 #5 Minutes
August 22, 2013
9:00 a.m.
Location: City Council Chamber, 1st floor,
City Hall – St. James Building; 117 West Duval Street,
Suite 425
In attendance: Council Members Greg Anderson (Chair), Reggie
Brown, Richard Clark, John Crescimbeni, Johnny Gaffney (dep. 11:26), Robin
Lumb, Clay Yarborough
Excused: Matt
Schellenberg, Stephen Joost
Also:
Council Members Jim Love (arr. 9:19), Lori Boyer (arr. 9:36), Bill Gulliford (arr.
10:30), Don Redman (arr. 9:26), Warren Jones (arr. 10:15)
Also: Kirk
Sherman, Kim Taylor, Janice Billy, Kyle Billy, Robert Campbell, Sean Costigan,
Tommy Carter – Council Auditor’s Office; Carol Owens – Legislative Services
Division; Peggy Sidman – Office of General Counsel; Jeff Clements – Council
Research Division; Ronnie Belton and Michele Barth – Mayor’s Office; Glenn
Hansen and Angela Moyer - Budget Office
Meeting Convened: 9:06 a.m.
Council Auditor Kirk Sherman
updated the committee on the status of the Special Council Contingency Fund,
which currently stands at negative $19.65 million (0.4505 millage equivalent)
JEA
Kyle Billy of the Council
Auditor’s Office and Paul McElroy, JEA CEO, discussed the amount of JEA sales
and the projections of utility service tax revenue and franchise fee revenue
based on those sales. Because Jacksonville has experienced unusually mild
summers and winters the last 2 years, electric sales and therefore associated
revenues are down.
Motion: on
the Council Auditor’s handout entitled “General Fund – General Service
District: Schedule of Revenues”, p. 4, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s
recommendations #1 and 2 reducing utility service tax and franchise fee
revenues to the City – approved
unanimously
References from this point refer to Council Auditor’s
Independent Agency Handout, August 22, 2013
Lisa Wetherby, JEA board
member, briefly addressed the committee reporting that JEA has no new debt
programmed for the upcoming year (a JEA priority), the operating budget is down
$29 million and the capital budget is down $51 million since last year.
Kyle Billy noted that the JEA
contribution to the City will increase by the contractual minimum of $2.5
million, which it has done every year since FY08 because sales volume
multiplied by the millage rate has been below the contract floor.
Mr. McElroy answered
questions from several council members about the utility’s fuel mix
(specifically coal vs. natural gas) and the potential effects of future federal
regulations on carbon emissions and the effect on the future of the St. Johns
River Power Park.
Motion: on
p. 25, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendation regarding shift
of funding within electric capital projects – approved unanimously.
Mr. McElroy stated that the
budget contains no funding for pay increases for either union or non-union
employees while negotiations on a new 3-year contract are ongoing. He also stated that JEA is strongly committed
to increasing its customer approval ratings and perceptions via a thorough
process of evaluation and improvement.
In July, J.D. Power ranked JEA #60 out of 126 utilities in the country
for customer satisfaction, the biggest increase any utility has produced from
year-to-year in the history of the survey.
In response to a question from Council Member Gaffney, Mr. McElroy
stated that approximately 1% of Jacksonville’s residences are vacant and
another 4% are in foreclosure, which definitely impacts on JEA’s sales
negatively.
In response to a question
from Council Member Brown, Mr. McElroy discussed the plans for phasing out
septic tanks, particularly in less affluent areas that have suffered from the
effects of those septic tanks for years.
The cost to install public sewer is approximately $25,000 per residence,
with $5,000-6,000 being the property owner’s cost for tie-in. The total community need has been estimated
at $700-800 million and there are no grant funds available any more as was the
case in the 1960s and 1970s. JEA and the
City recognize the problem, but there’s no funding to get it done. Council Member Gaffney suggested that at
least putting water and sewer on main thoroughfares would stimulate economic
activity and give the community some hope for improvement. Mr. Brown noted that there is despair in the
community about ever seeing improvements. Council Member Boyer reported on her
experience at a community meeting last night where a neighborhood’s shallow
wells have failed, the Florida DEP does not want more deep wells drilled, and
there is no plan for extending public water to the neighborhood. The situation is unacceptable and needs to be
remedied.
JTA
Kyle Billy reviewed the JTA’s
capital and operating budgets for bus, Skyway, community transit and
engineering (road building). The committee asked questions about the
projections of current year and upcoming year local option sales tax and local
option sales tax. Mr. Billy agreed to
meet with Council Member Crescimbeni to confirm the accuracy of the numbers.
Motion: on
p. 52, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 a, c, d, e
and f – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 52, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 b – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 53, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 j – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 53, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendations #2 – approved unanimously
Recommendations 1 g, h and i
were deferred until the Auditor’s Office can double check the figures.
In response to questions from
Council Member Yarborough, JTA CEO Nathaniel Ford discussed the future of the
Skyway. He stated that the JTA is in the
process of undertaking a Blueprint for Transit Improvement that will look at
the future of all transit operations, including bus, Skyway and bus rapid
transit (BRT). Part of that study will look
at how to change the bus system in ways that support and funnel ridership into
the Skyway to assist its ridership. The
JTA has also applied for a federal TIGER grant to fund an extension of the JTA
to a new station on Riverside Avenue that would serve the two new apartment and
retail complexes currently under construction there. The grant would also pay for improvements to
the current vehicles which are more than 20 years old.
Federal funding has not yet
been awarded for the four BRT corridors but the projects are in the federal
transportation budget and the funding prospect looks fairly good. JTA and the Public Works Department are
coordinating over the construction and maintenance of the BRT system
facilities.
Kyle Billy and Nathaniel Ford
answered questions about the proposed increase in local option gas tax and
sales tax revenues and how the increased amounts would be allocated and
expended within the JTA’s budget.
Motion: on
p. 53, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendation #1 h – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 53, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 g and i – approved unanimously
JAA
Motion: on
p. 61, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 – 5 – approved unanimously
JAA CEO Steve Grossman
answered several questions posed by Council Member Crescimbeni about the
authority’s purchase of 16 copiers and whether the authority considered joining
with the City’s copier contract for their copier needs, about the authority’s
contract with the Fire and Rescue Department for airport firefighting services,
and about the JAA’s advertising budget.
JPA
Motion: on
p. 68, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendations #1 – 4 – approved unanimously
In response to a question
from Council President Gulliford about his biggest disappointment so far during
his tenure at Jaxport, JPA CEO Brian Taylor said that it is the inability to
spend the existing funding for the Mile Point project and get that vital
project going. Permission from
Washington is disappointingly hard to accomplish. Mr. Taylor answered several questions about
the conditions of the Blount Island and Talleyrand terminal wharves and
facilities and about the future of auto and container shipments in the
post-Panamax era. Jaxport needs to
expand its capacity to process and deliver more vehicles through its limited
space to serve existing customers. Expansion
of customer base would require additional space and facilities and therefore
more capital investment.
Council Member Crescimbeni
commented on the JPA’s comparatively low cost of employee benefits. The reason is largely due to the 170
employees being in the Florida Retirement System which has a lower employer
contribution percentage than the City’s pension plan.
The committee was in recess from 12:13 to 1:19
Chairman Anderson announced
that the Office of Economic Development and the Downtown Investment Authority
budgets will be moved to the meeting of August 28th in the
afternoon.
References from this point refer to Budget Hearing #5
Handout – August 22, 2013
Human Rights Commission
Charelene Taylor-Hill gave an
overview of the commission’s areas of responsibility and workload. She answered questions from several council
members about caseloads, number of staff, and the percentages of cases settled
by mediation versus formal hearings. The
JHRC closed 127 cases last year and is on a pace for 125 cases this year. If the City falls below 100 cases settled per
year then it doesn’t qualify for federal funding, meaning cases would take much
longer to resolve. Pursuant to a
question from Council President Gulliford, Ms. Taylor-Hill will explore with state
and federal officials the possibility of Jacksonville’s Human Rights Commission
expanding into a regional agency to cover more counties in Northeast Florida.
Employee group health
insurance
Motion: on
p. 5, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendation – approved unanimously
Motion: on
p. 6, recommend approval of Council Auditor’s recommendation – approved unanimously
Council Member Crescimbeni
asked about the monthly report mailed to all employees by Florida Blue
outlining the employee’s monthly claims experience. Ellen Blair of Employee Services was asked to
speak to Florida Blue about the possibility of discontinuing that mailing and
reducing the City’s premiums. Council
President Gulliford asked the Finance Committee to look at health insurance
issues during this year.
Ms. Blair asked the committee
to restore, if possible, ranked items #8 and #7, part time hours and overtime
funding. In response to a question from
Council Member Crescimbeni about whether the City could prorate the overhead
costs of the Employee Benefits department to retirees so that they share in the
cost of operating the department. Kirk
Sherman and Ms. Blair stated that the City currently does that in the form of
an administrative fee added on to the health insurance premium and allocated to
all covered employees.
Motion
(Crescimbeni): on p. 6, restore departmental requests ranked #8 and #7 –
part-time hours and overtime funding – approved
unanimously
Neighborhoods Department
Department Director Terrance
Ashanti-Barker and Code Enforcement Chief Kim Scott answered questions from
committee members about the impact of employee reductions in various divisions
of the department, particularly in Code Enforcement, Mosquito Control and
Animal Care and Protective Services.
Motion: on
p. 10, approve Council Auditor’s recommendations #1-3 – approved 6-1 (Clark opposed)
Ms. Scott noted that the
Finance Committee’s action on the Jacksonville Journey budget last week
eliminated $340,000 in Journey funding for nuisance abatement contractual
services.
She requested restoration of
that funding and the restoration of $200,159 that was eliminated from the
division’s budget in FY11-12, which together eliminate any General Fund funding
for nuisance abatement contracting. Her
division is with only lien revenue to fund this activity and that is entirely
insufficient to the purpose.
Motion
(Yarborough): on p. 11, restore to the Municipal Code Compliance Division
requested restorations ranked #3 ($200,159 for abatement funding) and #2
(demolition and site clearance) – approved
6-1 (Clark opposed)
Motion (Crescimbeni):
on p. 11 restore 3 vacant code compliance officer positions ranked #4,
utilizing funding transferred from other vacant positions to be left unfilled
that are funded at $5980 each – approved unanimously
Council Member Boyer
questioned whether the vacant positions funded at $5980 are the positions
restored to Code Compliance and fully funded in the current budget, from which
funding has been transferred out for other purpose. Ms. Scott believes the positions were
restored but not fully funded; Ms. Boyer believes they were and will
double-check the record from last year to verify. Ms. Boyer also questioned the status of the
vacant property registry fee that the City has levied but never expended due to
a pending legal challenge in Chicago which had a fee largely identical to
Jacksonville’s.
Animal Care and Protective
Services
Motion
(Crescimbeni): on p. 12, approve the division’s three requested restorations
ranked #3, 2 and 1 – approved
unanimously
President Gulliford asked
Division Chief Scott Trebatoski to look more closely at the issue of animal
license discounts for senior citizens and whether or not it is warranted and
what would be the financial and licensing compliance impacts of reducing or
eliminating the discount.
Mosquito Control
Motion (Yarborough):
on p. 12, approve the division’s requested restoration ranked #4 (Environmental
Programs Coordinator) – approved 6-1
(Lumb opposed)
The remainder of the
scheduled budgets from Hearing #5 will be moved to future meetings.
Council Member Crescimbeni
asked for further information on the Chief of Compensation and Benefits
position in the Employee Services budget – was it created in Mayor Brown’s
initial reorganization in 2011 and has it ever been filled?
Meeting Adjourned: 4:04 p.m.
Minutes: Jeff Clements, Council Research
8.22.13 Posted 5:00 p.m.
Tapes: Finance Budget Hearing #5– LSD
8.22.13
Materials: Auditor’s Budget
Hearing #4 handout
8.22.13