District 5: News from Lori Boyer

[sheclown]

Dear Friends,

If you missed my email in January, I am thrilled to announce that I was unopposed at the close of qualifying and will be serving a second term as your District 5 Councilperson. Again, I want to express my sincere appreciation for this opportunity, and my gratitude to all my campaign donors, volunteers and supporters who made this possible. I want to offer special thanks to Gaye Elison, who coordinated the campaign effort from March through December; to Mary Toomey, my treasurer; and to Jennifer Newman who arrived in January ready to take over the reigns as my volunteer campaign manager once again.  They and the rest of my team have given so much of their time and talent to get and keep me in this role. I will be forever grateful to each of you.

Recently, you may have been reading in the paper about millions of dollars available for projects that were uncovered by the Special Committee on the Capital Improvement Program. That is just one of many discoveries we have made- some good and some not.

Last fall Council President Yarborough appointed me to chair that Special Committee. The committee was the outgrowth of the Mayor's budget request for a substantial increase in debt.  (See my September article on Borrowing, Debt Service and the Budget.) We have been meeting weekly since September and have gained a much better understanding of the systems in place and the various challenges they present. The Finance department (which reports directly to the Mayor) and its various divisions have been responding to our inquiries. So let me cover some of the highlights.

Committee members Greg Anderson, John Crescimbeni, Bill Gulliford and Matt Schellenberg and me  along with visiting Council member Jim Love at a recent CIP meeting. The work has been tedious, but productive, and the education invaluable. You will be well served in the future by the knowledge we have gained.

First, we learned that the City pools cash and engages in deficit spending- that is we spend the money first from the pool (even if it may be budgeted for A the cash might be used for B) and borrow in arrears to replenish the pooled cash. At any given point in time there is no record of the exact amount of cash deficit we have incurred and no cap on the amount of the deficit before we borrow to make the account whole. That means that the amount of debt service we have to pay on borrowed funds is understated because we are always running a deficit of some amount.  Initially we thought this was only an issue of timing- that is we spent the cash before we borrowed the funds but with sufficient authorization in place to fill the gap. Later we discovered that we actually spent substantial sums in circumstances where the full amount had been borrowed and there simply was not enough revenue to support the expenditure.

Then we tackled the Better Jacksonville Plan and its projects. We learned that as of October, we had overspent the available revenue by 16 million and there were outstanding contractual obligations on the State Attorney's office project as well as prior obligations for condemnations, etc. that ran that deficit up to about 30 million. That means real dollars have already been spent, or will have to be, on projects already complete or nearing completion. But the revenue did not come from the BJP bonds or sales tax- the funds were simply paid from our pooled cash.  At that point we were told that there might not be positive cash flow for ten years or more to repay the deficit but a subsequent report in December revealed that the cash flow schedule had not been revised since we refinanced in 2011 and the refinance, coupled with increased revenue from the sales tax on internet sales, meant we now were already seeing positive cash flow and could expect to repay the deficit by 2016. Great news, but a little disconcerting that the answers provided a month earlier came to a different conclusion. What does all that mean? First, if we spent all the cash budgeted in various City projects and funds today, we would come up significantly short.  (Is that really why so many projects have been sitting still for the last three years?) Second, The BJP projects that have been frozen for a lack of funds may be revived as soon as 2017. We will be asking Public Works to review the remaining projects for viability and priority as we move forward.

Next we moved on to the Stormwater Fund. The stormwater fees you pay are used to fund operating expenses of stormwater maintenance and new capital projects such as septic tank remediation and drainage projects.  We collect approximately 26 million a year of which 18 million is used for operations. The balance is transferred to capital projects, but in prior years Jacksonville borrowed funds and pledged stormwater revenue to pay the debt service so that the net unencumbered available for projects is now less than 3 million a year. Council stopped further borrowing in the fund back in September, but the meager balance does not go far. We have reviewed project lists, proposed cash transfers to allow completion of the projects already underway and have found an additional 6-8 million to add to the pot.  That will get us through this year, but going forward, the general fund will either need to absorb a greater portion of the operating costs or debt service to free up capital dollars in the Fund. (that translates to less money for services or higher taxes).

We then moved on to review all outstanding capital projects by geographic area (Council District) to ascertain whether they are complete, still in progress, or have yet to begin. The ultimate goal would be to close projects that are complete, accumulate any remaining funds in the bond funds that were their source, and be able to move forward with additional new projects WITHOUT ADDITIONAL DEBT.

Finally, we have been reviewing a number of countywide accounts such as the Five Year Road Program.  In that fund, we uncovered over 10 million in various road improvement accounts that is available for current use.  We have asked the Public Works Department to prioritize use of those funds.  While this is one-time money (that is funds in an account rather than a recurring revenue stream) it is still cash that does not have to be borrowed that allows us to move forward with road repairs, bridge work, intersection improvements and sidewalks among other items. There are millions more in other funds available for appropriation as well, and we are working our way through the list.

In conclusion, we have uncovered at least 15 million that is not part of our reserves, can be used for projects this year, and was not identified in the budget. We have reduced borrowing authorization and avoided a major increase in our debt service. And, we have uncovered a number of past practices that require policy action and reform. We hope to complete our work by April.

There are so many other things happening in the District and in this busy campaign season. Please be sure to check out recent news postings for details!
 
Warm Regards,
Lori

P.S.  don't forget to check out the website www.loriboyer.org, for updates on many other issues and upcoming events.

[spuwho]

Well done. Forensic accounting & budgeting at its best.

[Jumpinjack]

When I received this newsletter from the Councilwoman, I was shocked at the state of our city's financial mess and convoluted system for paying our debts. Thank goodness we have dedicated hardworking council members to figure it out  and set it straight.

[sheclown]

Yes, I'm shocked as well.  How can we be so very sloppy with our record keeping.

Looks like many have been asleep at the wheel (and including us -- voters). 

And if it took so long to just have a basic understanding of the city's finances, what amount of monumental effort is going to fix it?

[Bridges]

This is a fantastic news letter and update.  I joined her mailing list not long ago.  Does she do updates outside of campaign season?  Cause this is a great breakdown. 

[tufsu1]

^ yes

[strider]

Just wondering here, if everything is just put into one big pot, does that mean all the various funds from all funding sources are co-mingled?  Doesn't that also mean that everything must then be handled as if it were federally funded to be legal?  In other words, if the Federal funds are co-mingled with regular funds, everything Code Compliance does, for instance, would have to be handled and meet the criteria as if it were paid for using Federal funds because in a sense, it at least partially is?  In fact, isn't the co-mingling itself illegal?

[Noone]

Very Positive.

[Bill Hoff]

For those that are Boyer fans:

She's supporting Michelle Tappouni  (Group 5) and Anna Brosche (Group 1) for At-Large city council seats.

Elect those two if you want more representatives of the same caliber.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Much credit to Mrs. Boyer and what she's doing for the city.

It's refreshing to see someone trying to get to the root of the problems rather than apply band-aids and bury their head in the sand.  Because, you know..... Electability.

And although she appears to be the gold platinum standard of the job that we would expect from our council members, shouldn't this be more of the norm rather than the exception?  How have so many gotten lost and remain in their positions?

[sheclown]

With a year's worth of work, Boyer has uncovered millions of dollars of "lost money" and pin-pointed the cause of it.

With a year's worth of work, Lee has determined the best way to stabilize neighborhoods is to knock them down.