Fireworks at city hall?
QuoteSome Jacksonville City Council members blasted Mayor Alvin Brown Monday for a budget they said leaves the work of identifying the details of more than half of $61 million in service reductions up to the council.
Brown's budget does not detail how $38 million in cuts will actual impact services or personnel, but rather just reduces a division or department's budget to reach an overall 14 percent reduction. The city calls these unspecified reductions "extraordinary lapses." Most of the unknown reductions, $29 million, come from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
"I'd call it lazy if it weren't so utterly incompetent," said Councilman Richard Clark of Brown's 14 percent across-the-board cut. "That's not budgeting, that's not leading, that's not doing the job that you were elected to do."
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-07-15/story/jacksonville-council-members-rip-mayor-alvin-brown-s-utterly-incompetent#ixzz2ZDEl2TCG
Whoa.
I love it. Really makes one miss the Delaney days.
Quote from: fsujax on July 16, 2013, 09:42:25 AM
I love it. Really makes one miss the Delaney days.
+1
Wasn't last years budget just as incomplete as the one he proposed yesterday?
He may be right but Richard Clark is a waste
^So mean! I'm sure NEFBA would disagree.
I bet the cyclist would agree.
Quote from: tufsu1 on July 16, 2013, 03:33:46 PM
He may be right but Richard Clark is a waste
Watching the news last night, I found myself agreeing with C/m Clark ... then thinking "Whoa! I'm agreeing with Richard Clark?!?)." Is this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?
Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 16, 2013, 06:46:46 PM
Quote from: tufsu1 on July 16, 2013, 03:33:46 PM
He may be right but Richard Clark is a waste
Watching the news last night, I found myself agreeing with C/m Clark ... then thinking "Whoa! I'm agreeing with Richard Clark?!?)." Is this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?
Scary right? lol
Quote from: fsujax on July 16, 2013, 09:42:25 AM
I love it. Really makes one miss the Delaney days.
+1
From the Daily Record. It is very clear the council is disgusted with Brown's Budget Proposal and the City Auditor says it is full of lapses. On an interesting note, Brown says he will veto any tax increases offered by Council.
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=540010
Quote
Less than an hour after Mayor Alvin Brown formally presented his 2013-14 City budget to City Council, members of the committee charged with its review offered their initial reactions, most of which were unfavorable.
Member Stephen Joost told the Finance Committee the Council should "send it back" to Brown until his administration identifies the cuts it plans to implement, instead of pushing the work onto Council.
Brown's $953 million general fund budget contains more than $53 million in "lapses," according to Council Auditor Kirk Sherman's initial review.
Lapses are figures placed in the budget to account for the migration of employees and services throughout the year.
As an example, he told the committee that if $100 million was budgeted for employees in a year, it's likely the department would not spend that much because of employees leaving, their positions not immediately being filled and so on.
A regular lapse could be up to 3 percent of a department budget, Sherman said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department, the mayor's office, Council and the Medical Examiner's Office all have "extraordinary lapses," or those that are over that threshold, according to Sherman.
That's led by the sheriff's office with a $32.5 million total lapse and the Fire and Rescue Department with a $15.5 million total lapse.
With cuts to correspond to those lapses not identified, the committee will have to find them.
"They're putting it on us," Joost said.
Under the City Charter, Brown's budget was balanced. But, Sherman characterized it as not balanced, with the lapses making it "very easy to put together."
Council President Bill Gulliford said Brown's budget-makers have "no impediment to throw anything and everything" into the budget as a lapse and that changes are needed to ensure that such extraordinary lapses do not exceed a certain amount.
"I don't consider this a balanced budget," Gulliford told the committee.
With more than $60 million in proposed service cuts — including the closure of libraries, fire stations, community centers and layoffs of hundreds of public safety officials — the committee began the preliminary discussion on how to address the deficit.
Council member Robin Lumb suggested sweeping available accounts, including the $9 million for Downtown economic development for which Brown stumped and Council approved earlier this year.
Lumb also suggested a discussion about using City reserves to lower the deficit by up to two-thirds, a move he said would not be inappropriate given the pension situation.
Council member Matt Schellenberg suggested cutting programs and services for which Brown has advocated to $0 until the administration presents other proposals. Joost seconded that idea.
Lumb said that by the administration requiring an almost 14 percent cut from every department, it used a "chainsaw and a meat axe" instead of a "scalpel" in choosing its cuts.
He said a philosophical framework was needed to determine priorities of cuts.
"Our job is to establish spending priorities. I think you'll find a great deal of discussion that includes the term 'core functions of government'," Lumb said.
The committee begins its budget review Aug. 8 and will meet for full-day reviews each Thursday and half-day reviews each Friday throughout August.
Every department in the budget will address the committee and, after committee discussion Monday, will be asked to present ideas on where to cut instead of strictly what's been proposed.
"If we only have one set of options on the table, it doesn't give us much room for policy issues," Council member John Crescimbeni said.
One option to address the deficit could be Council approving a roll-up rate for millage, which would net the same revenue from property taxes as last year despite a decline in some property values.
The maximum rate for each service district must be approved by Council and sent to the Property Appraiser's Office by Aug. 4. Council could lower that rate, but any increase would cost the City to reprint and resend notices to property owners.
Legislation for the tax rates is expected to be introduced as an emergency next week.
The committee convenes again at 9 a.m. today.
dchapman@baileypub.
Clearly the Mayor is not a "details" guy. He is into sports and big announcements.
So tell him to hire a Director of Budget and have him do it for crying out loud.
Should be an interesting process to say the least.
Quote from: spuwho on July 17, 2013, 12:37:12 AM
So tell him to hire a Director of Budget and have him do it for crying out loud.
he has one...it is clear this budget is purely political
I think maybe this city had been fucked by rich republicans so many times that we picked what ever came along....his management skills are lacking and is more of an idea guy and not so good with others...lol..he's a dino.
Quote from: Garden guy on July 17, 2013, 08:28:16 AM
I think maybe this city had been fucked by rich republicans so many times that we picked what ever came along....his management skills are lacking and is more of an idea guy and not so good with others...lol..he's a dino.
What on earth? No one picked Brown. He pretty much fell into the job.
Quote from: spuwho on July 17, 2013, 12:37:12 AM
Clearly the Mayor is not a "details" guy. He is into sports and big announcements.
So tell him to hire a Director of Budget and have him do it for crying out loud.
He has a budget guy that is supposed to be top notch. lol
Quote from: MEGATRON on July 17, 2013, 08:44:49 AM
Quote from: Garden guy on July 17, 2013, 08:28:16 AM
I think maybe this city had been fucked by rich republicans so many times that we picked what ever came along....his management skills are lacking and is more of an idea guy and not so good with others...lol..he's a dino.
What on earth? No one picked Brown. He pretty much fell into the job.
People voted, so yes the majority "picked" Brown. Now lets hope there is a competent candidate who opposes him so that we can "unpick" Brown.