City Council unanimously approved Mayor Lenny Curry’s proposed $1.273 billion budget Tuesday night, sending the legislation to the mayor for his signature before the 2017-18 fiscal year starts Sunday.
Council members approved nine budget-related pieces of legislation, along with seven amendments.
Two bills, one approving a health services contract with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and another approving the city’s annual growth rate, passed as part of the consent agenda.
Council passed another bill approving a budget for a five-year plan to upgrade city IT systems.
For the fifth year, council members kept millage rates stable for Duval County taxpayers. For most of the county, property owners will pay $11.4419 for every $1,000 in assessed property. The three Beaches communities will pay 8.1512 mills, and Baldwin taxpayers will pay 9.6312 mills.
Council unanimously supported Ordinance 2017-505, which adopts a five-year, $1.2 billion Capital Improvement Program.
The 19-member body also approved Ordinance 2017-504, the bulk of the budget package.
Of the 15 floor amendments introduced by council members, only seven successfully altered the 51-page bill.
All three floor amendments introduced by council member Danny Becton died before a vote.
One would have moved $8.4 million earmarked in the Capital Improvement Program for upgrades to dormitories and a multipurpose field at Edward Waters College to the city Public Works Department to address infrastructure needs.
The other two amendments would have set aside additional pension debt payments by taking money from the city’s $60 million pension reserve fund.
Becton said he was disappointed the city was “ignoring the next generation’s debt obligations.”
Finance Committee Chair Garrett Dennis failed to sway colleagues to move nearly $68,000 marked for Downtown economic development to cover two part-time positions at the Inspector General and Ethics’ offices into full-time jobs.
He then withdrew another amendment aimed at setting aside $25,000 in the Public Works Department budget for sandbags ahead of another major weather event.
Curry’s Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa said the mayor’s office preferred addressing the need for sandbags and other emergency supplies during debriefings the executive branch plans to hold with emergency response officials in the next month.
“It would be hard for Public Works to do something without guidelines,” Mousa said.
He said the administration wanted more “accurate figures” to properly address the costs.
Council members did pass Dennis’ fifth floor amendment, a $16,000 adjustment to convert a part-time position at the city medical examiner’s office to a full-time job.
Two other amendments, one from council member Lori Boyer satisfying the mayor’s request to freeze his salary, and another by council member Al Ferraro extending that freeze to the council, also came up.
Boyer’s amendment passed, while Ferraro’s failed.
Council approved the last piece of legislation by 11:30 p.m.
Curry presented his budget in July. The council Finance Committee reviewed every department and independent authority’s financial requests ahead of the final vote Tuesday night.
The mayor has until Saturday to sign the legislation into law, veto it or allow the bills to take effect without his signature.