JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — City leaders are making progress finding cuts to close what started as a $27 million budget hole.
After slashing $7 million out of the mayor’s budget proposal on day one, the council finance committee continued to trim programs and projects in its second budget hearing Friday.
The committee started by reducing a $600,000 requested increase for executive salaries within the mayor’s office down to $300,000.
Council Vice President Nick Howland (R-Group 3 At-Large) pushed for the cut, and noted many of the mayor’s executive staff salaries are over one or even two hundred thousand dollars.
“If you want to get rich, go work for this mayor. They are highly paid,” said Howland.
The increase was requested to pay the mayor’s new chief of staff, as her previous chief of staff was on loan from Florida Blue and did not collect a city salary.
The funds would also cover part-time hours for a Special Advisor to the Mayor and pay the salary of the city’s Hispanic Outreach Coordinator, which was recently converted to a full-time position.
The city’s Chief of Analytics, whose salary was cut from last year’s budget entirely, would also have been funded by the requested increase.
In a statement, the mayor’s office said the salary cut “feels political and personal”.
Mayor Donna Deegan also pushed back on the idea her executive staff is overpaid Tuesday.
“We have held raises down because of the fact that we want to keep our financial house in order, but no, certainly I don’t think those salaries are too high,” said Deegan.
The committee slashed more than $6 million between a downpayment assistance program and litter campaign and $650,000 for three projects within the planning department.
Council Finance Chair Raul Arias (R-District 11) argued the cuts are aimed at redundant programs, or programs that would only stand to serve a small fraction of the community.
“One program in particular that was a couple hundred thousand dollars would help out 30 individuals in Jacksonville, a city of a million people. So, to have money allocated for just those 30 people, it begs to ask the question, who are those lucky lottery winners?” said Arias.
Arias also claimed the city is already funding affordable housing to the tune of $23 million, a point contested by the city’s Affordable Housing Administrator Joshua Hicks.
In a statement, he claimed that funding comes from the state, not the city.
“Cities around the country are spending millions in local dollars to address this crisis. We need to do the same. Progress is being made to provide relief to our citizens. We must continue to move forward,” said Hicks.
$8.7 million for new dorms at Edward Waters University was also cut, but Arias promised the council intends to fund the project over the next two years through legislation he plans to sponsor.
Between all of the cuts over the past two days, the committee expects to address the bulk of the $27 million deficit they began with Thursday.
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That deficit was driven in part by a move to cut property taxes by about $13 million.
The mayor called the decision “performative” during a press availability Thursday, as she noted it would only save the average homeowner about a dollar a month.
“And it takes millions of dollars away from what we can spend on public safety, what we can spend on roads and sidewalks and potholes. These are the things people are telling us they want,” said Deegan.
But Arias defended the move, and argued the cut is long overdue.
“Because otherwise, if you don’t reduce it for the next ten years, what’s going to happen is if there is a millage rate reduction, it’s going to be a significant one,” said Arias.
The mayor has expressed some hope that the cuts made by the finance committee could be undone before the final budget is passed.
“We are in the first inning of the game. We look forward to discussing these adjustments to a well-developed, balanced budget with all 19 council members,” a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said in an emailed statement.
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