https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/politics/government/2024/08/07/donna-deegan-city-council-debate-jacksonville-budget-reserves-funding-finance-hearings-salem-diamond/74601173007/
So being fiscally responsible is running our city budget into a 9-figure deficit by 2028? What? Oh & only $78M in 2026... What?
I know someone is lurking to correct me. Let's hear it because IDK how the mayor can make these claims with a straight face.
In the private sector, when CAPEX monies are applied, they are capitalized and expensed through depreciation or amortization over many years.
It appears to me that the City may be expensing CAPEX all in the year of the outlay (government accounting can be downright weird). If this is the case, the deficit may be misleading as some of what is causing it is actually allocable to future years as a result of longer term benefits. If I read the Mayor correctly, this is a big part of her position.
If the City bonded the subject CAPEX monies, would they then be shown as an immediate deduction in the City budget or is that buried in some kind of "fund" accounting? I would think the latter as we have had billion dollar bond financing and no one yelled that we had deficits to match.
We're working this out through budget hearings now and it's in City Council's hands presently. Overall after day 1, there's not much change in substance. Some of the council's moves are okay, a few are just political theater by a couple of council members, but that's just how we make the Azar sausage. I won't be saying too much about this beyond what's public record until it's done, but I'll take the opportunity to say I'm very happy we have a great finance team and that City Council has a great team of auditors.
Thanks for clarifying.