Peyton: www.Fixitnow.cc

[Steve]

What a piece of crap.

[Karl_Pilkington]

typical politician doublespeak, reminds me of Clinton's "that depends on what the meaning of the word  is is."

[JaxByDefault]

I'm amused by the fixitnow.cc website tagline: "What kind of city do YOU want?" Ummmm...the kind of city JAX currently is not: vibrant, working, and sustainable. Anyone who has ever lived elsewhere knows that JAX offers poor value for money when it comes to city services and quality of life.

Surely we are all floored by the prowess of a Mayor's office whose vision tops out at preserving the local status-quo.

I have no problem paying several hundred dollars extra, but the mayor's office has to offer something besides no-bid contracts, poor urban planning, massive (but ineffective) public safety spending, and staff pay cuts in return.

[tufsu1]

this is why no one should ever sign that pledge...just look at what it did to our State Legislature this year!

[brainstormer]

All right, I've been on vacation the past week, so I had some catching up to do.  I actually took the time to download last year's budget and the following is the result of about 2 hours spent trying to dissect it and come up with ideas.  Adam, that is what you asked for, correct?  I'm still confused about the general fund and what all comes out of it, but my ideas are based on a basic citizen's understanding of the budget.    There are a lot of questions that will hopefully raise red flags for you as well.

Budget Concerns with Immediate Savings
1.  In 2009 the city budgeted an additional 1.5 million for consulting fees to money managers of the general employee pension fund. (page 208)  I ask why this excessive increase?  Can we cut back at least a million?

2.  The city council alone is budgeted 18 million. (page 244)  This seems outrageous!!!  Do council members really need all of these secretaries and expense accounts?  I think cutting 8-10 million off the top would be a good start.  If council members can't deal with that, then they should resign.

3.  The Finance Department's expenditures have quadrupled since 2007 to over 200 million!!!    What has caused this huge increase? (page 276)  Can we cut say 50 million and still continue to pay off debt?

4.  According to the budget (page 355), the Planning and Development Department barely existed in 2007.  In 2009 it suddenly accounted for 22 million in expenditures.  This department went from 60 positions to 238 and also included 6,355 budgeted part time hours.  Why the sudden explosion in this department and how is this affecting the city?  I haven't noticed our city becoming that much better since 2007.  Can we cut 7 million here?

So far, 68 million could be cut from what appears to me, to be some "bloated" city departments.

Additional Budget Areas with Potential Savings

1.  I agree, the pension thing must be fixed immediately.

2.  The city gives out 30 million in grants to the community. (pages 65-74)  After looking at the list there are some that seem unneeded.  Let's revisit who we give grants to and make sure the money is being spent wisely.  I say we could cut at least 5-10 million in grants and not do much damage.

3.  The Concurrency Management system should be able to absorb at least some cuts because of the decrease in area development. (page 89)

4.  Let's rethink the JHFA and do some cutting there as well.  This relatively new department has many potential savings.  Things we like, but don't need.  It only helps a small number of citizens and many non-profits offer similar programs.

5.  Jacksonville Children's Commission accounts for 30 million of the budget. (page 317) We all love children, but there is some "fluff" in this department that isn't really doing a lot of good.  Don't cut the whole department but 5-8 million isn't going to hurt it much.

6.  The mayor needs to take a look at overtime for city employees in all departments.  This is costing the city millions and in some cases it might be cheaper to hire a new "cheap" employee under a new less costly pension plan so that some of these folks at the top of the pay scale aren't raping the city for time and a half overtime charges.  I would also think about an employee incentive plan for a strong work ethic.  I personally get paid a set salary and if I don't get my work done during the day, I take it home and do it on my own time.  What a concept huh?  I'll be honest, you have some lazy, worthless employees who are abusing our taxpayer money.  Let's start firing those who can't quite cut it.

7.  Many people feel that administrative people like yourself  and many administrative secretaries are paid too much.  I would say anyone making over $75,000 should take an 8% pay cut. 

8.  At least 5-8 million could be saved by cutting AMIO salaries and eliminating many of these positions that are redundant.  http://jaxpolitics.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/city-special-appointees-still-raking-in-the-money/ I wish I could have had a 20-30% raise last year.   

9.  Hanna and Huguenot Parks account for 2.5 million in budgeted dollars.  This seems very unfair when you look at the neglect of so many other parks in the city.  I say cut their budgets or at least distribute the funds to other parks in the city.  Hogan's Creek really needs some help.

So where does this leave us?  Well, I obviously feel that there are millions of dollars that can still be cut, enough to cover the shortfall for next year.  But then, I ask the now infamous question, "What kind of a city do I want?"  First of all, please stop using scare tactics to get what you want.  Stop making citizens feel bad by bribing them into a tax increase by saying things like cutting libraries and fire stations.  The library system might have to rethink how it operates and I'm guessing becoming more efficient or cutting back on a few hours or employees could result in some savings.  Honestly, the fix-it-now site makes me sick!  It is so short-sighted.  Why would a mayor propose to cut all of the good things that actually create a positive vibe in the city.  Cutting the Jazz Festival, World of Nations, recycling and closing the Lavilla museum?  That's just stupid!

I personally think the mill rate should be increased, even if it isn't desperately needed.  We can start saving some for a rainy day as well as start work on giving us a better quality of life.  Let's put some of the new tax money into the urban core.  Let's improve the inner parks, let's work on mass transit and other ideas that will spur economic development.  Let's put together another great downtown festival that adds an economic impact to city businesses.  We must stop expanding the suburbs and begin regrowing our inner city.  I think most citizens want a better Jacksonville.  I guarantee if you were to make the cuts I suggested above, you would start to gain back the trust of some citizens.  Suggest a more modest tax increase of say 8-10% and then let's have fun spending it to make us feel better about our city.

[Adam Hollingsworth]

Brainstormer -- Good stuff and thanks for taking the time to develop tangible, actionable suggestions.  Let us work through each of these and we 'll respond as quickly as we can.  It's this kind of conversation that will help educate and engage folks on the budget...and is a useful exercise. 

[mtraininjax]

Adam,

We are all tighenting our belts. We are cutting out things we do not use. So why not cut out some city services, that are not being used or needed during the downturn? St. Johns County clerks office did not whine in the papers, they cut out the outlying offices and now have 1 major in St. Augustine.

So why not cut out some libraries? Why not cut out the recycling program? Why not cut out some service programs, as a part of a smaller government in the face of lower revenues? You can't keep raising taxes to fill the void every year, and what happens next year? More taxes?

[tufsu1]

mtrain...the City has proposed cutting over $40 million from the budget....and they are opening a dialogue regarding more cuts vs. more taxes....if we don't raise taxes, libraries will be closed, recycling will stop, etc.

Why not ask the taxpayers (residents) what they feel is more important?

[mtraininjax]

if we don't raise taxes, libraries will be closed, recycling will stop, etc.

Why not ask the taxpayers (residents) what they feel is more important?

Cut it all out. Would BJP pass today if we had to do it all over again? It passed 52 to 48, but I am thinking it would be more like 30 to 70 now.

It would be nice if the CC did ask the people, too bad, we have to tell THEM the pulse of Jax.

[mtraininjax]

Is it totally effective to just be an a-hole?

Stephen, people in glass houses.....some of my friends in the City say the exact same thing about you....why do you suppose that is?

Perhaps we care too much!

[johnsantangelo]

Perhaps we care too much!

So what is it? You care too much or not at all (and want to cut all spending) ?

[brainstormer]

Mtrain, perhaps you might think about moving out into the countryside.  After reading many of your posts the past month, it seems to me at the bottom of all of this is a deep hatred for the ideal of "a city."  

I choose to live in a city because I want to be near parks where I can run and relax.  I want to be able to walk to a neighborhood library where I can check out books for free instead of buying them.  I want to be able to recycle because I care about the environment, even though it might cost a bit more.  I would love to get rid of my car and use effective mass transit.  I like being around others and supporting my friends in their small business ventures.  I enjoy attending the symphony and city events like the jazz festival.  I live in a city because I love it.

You might be much happier living in Nassau County where no one is going to bother you and you don't have to pay the taxes of city life.

[Kay]

Mtrain:  The Property Appraiser's Office must follow state law and Department of Revenue (DOR) guidelines.  DOR's guidelines do not allow Property Appraisers to use foreclosure sales in setting market values--in response to your quote below.

"Adam, with all due respect, if the mayor wants to dig into my pocket for $115 more per year, he can go down and see the Property Appraiser who operates under the City umbrella. Fix the property appraisers office if you want my help. You failed to address the issues of adding Foreclosure values to your value in the neighborhood. Banks operating in Jacksonville mandate foreclosures in their appraisals, have the mayors office change the PA's valuations as well. Help out the citizens, if you plan to raise the millage, at least level the playing field for our homes.

Good idea to hold VAB objections at the Prime, this year, you better get used to a MAJOR decrease in property values, South Florida recently lost 5 BILLION in value. I am going to have fun with Mr. Overton's office this fall, but that can all be avoided if the mayor helps us."

[YellowBluffRoad]

Great post, Brainstormer. I've downloaded the prior budget but have not had chance to sit down and mark it up to form my opinions/recommendations.

Adam, I personally have felt for some time that the Jacksonville millage rate was too low to sustain the level of services I believe can be delivered to our community. I've paid property taxes in Duval County since the 80s when the millages were much higher (but of course now I have to consider both millage and the "use fees" to compare apples to apples).  Continuously dropping millage rates, versus at least maintaining a "status quo" level invariably leads to the fiscal swings that won't end this year, regardless of whether the Council approves Mayor Peyton's proposed budget or not.

I've been disappointed in Mayor Peyton's last few budgets and large fiscal policy recommendations (such as Jacksonville Journey and Trail Ridge) - more by the manner of presentment than the content itself. For the last few years it seems the "pitch" presented to the community consists of a basic recipe: a few weeks of "sky is falling" rhetoric combined with financial sound bites versus details and meaningful content. No offense, Adam, but I'm seeing the same approach with FixItNow, too.

I visited the FixItNow web site hoping for thoughtful analyses of individual departmental expenditures, financial trend analyses within our city, and perhaps even metrics and scorecards to help the community determine the ROI for where our tax dollars are spent, or summaries of how the budget allocations compare to any of the prior fiscal visioning efforts the city has occasionally gone through. I found the link to the JCCI's latest study with some of that data, but I wanted more from  COJ directly. Will any of that be added to the site, or do we have to dig through the COJ web site for that type of data?

With limited transparency comes limited trust. While I believe a millage rate increase is justifiable in the long run (and I prefer property taxes to "user fees"),  I am not comfortable supporting  it unless our city leaders demonstrate improved fiscal responsibility and transparency. Show the public where you're surgically reducing expenses, versus the broad-based saber-rattling we generally hear thrown about. Develop metrics to evaluate the return-on-investment the community gets from the city services we fund. 

Some specific tactical recommendations I offer:

1. Defer Metro Park and Kids Kamp facility upgrades, unless there is a clear ROI-based business case. If upgrades to ticket booth facilities will enable us to have more concerts, a cost-benefit analysis should be straightforward. However. I can't see the value in adding more water effects to the kids park in a fiscal year like this. I'd rather see a library kept open.

2. Streamline overlapping departmental funding. From the articles I've read, it sounds like the proposed Metro park upgrades are being funded by JEDCO instead of from the Parks & Recreation Department who manages the park. It's a lot easier for citizens to understand funding prioritization when the funding priority is the responsibility of one department, not multiple ones. If the parks department had the funding directly, would the department Director and the staff prioritize the expense the same way or would their expenditure recommendations be different?

3. Eliminate or scale back optional expenses such as the fireworks display. I hate to say that, but again if I have to choose between keeping a library open or a public celebration, I'll keep the service over the party.
4. Eliminate all unnecessary overtime, and overtime related to optional projects.

5. Eliminate AMIO positions. If the resources are needed, process them through standard FTE business justifications and HR protocols.

6. Eliminate unnecessary travel. Improve travel coordination between Mayor's Office, City Council and local agencies.

7. Use the resources you already have. Why was the FixItNow site outsourced (i.e. 3rd party site hosting and GoDaddy registration processed by Adam on behalf of the city) versus using existing COJ resources and web servers?  Can't the Mayor get space on the COJ web site? And if the justification is that it's cheaper to go outside the city's IT department, well then that's something to consider a "fix it now" item.

Thanks for listening to our feedback, and the diversity of opinions our community has.

[brainstormer]

Yellowbluff, I included page numbers when I went through because it allows everyone else an opportunity to see where I found concerns.  Last year's budget is 468 pages, if I remember correctly.  I suggest that anyone who finds things to bring to our attention also include page numbers so we can somewhat follow along.  Going through the 30 million in city grants is one thing I hope to take a closer look at.  The problem is that many of the groups mentioned I've never heard of, so it is hard to justify their grant or not.  Perhaps we need a better vetting process to ensure money is well spent and goes to help the most people possible.