One-time funding leads to question on capital projects future

Billing it as a budget that gets the most bang for your buck while cutting back on the City’s debt, the proposal from Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is getting a lot of early approval in City Hall.

But as City Council prepares to take their dive in to the $1.1 billion spending plan, WOKV has uncovered one area that's raising some questions- how Curry will fund capital projects moving forward.

For years, the City has struggled to meet its capital needs. Curry made it a priority in this year’s budget and capital improvements proposals to provide funding for road repairs, library maintenance, Jax Beach pier upgrades and more.

“Capital projects are backlogged and way behind. This failure of investment and forward thinking is over,” he says.

Curry estimates the total capital investment he's hammered out for the upcoming year to top $70 million, with about $58 million of that being one-time dollars uncovered as part of a greater review of the books that has taken place.

The infusion of this funding has allowed the capital proposal to tap limited borrowing capacity this upcoming fiscal year- about $7 million in the Capital Improvement Program. That number, however, jumps to more than $98 million the following fiscal year, and then projects to nearly $71 million, $79 million, and $70 million in the three years after that. Essentially, the $58 million in one-time funding would start a range of projects in the upcoming fiscal year, but with many of the projects taking more than a year to do, it’s unclear where the funding comes from moving forward, and therefore begs the question of whether all of the projects should be started at this time.

WOKV brought this question to Jacksonville’s Finance Department Director Mike Weinstein. He says he’s confident the City would be able to find the money to reduce those numbers in future years.

"You don't know exactly how much ad valorem will come in, how much sales tax will come in, so it's a projected amount," Weinstein says.

There is an ongoing audit of the City books that may uncover more untapped dollars as well.

Authorizing more than $98 million in debt also wouldn’t necessarily mean taking on that amount of debt, but rather allowing the City to take up to that much. Weinstein says even if the City did use the entire capacity, we would still be coming out ahead.

“We do borrow for projects that are in the process, but we’ll be paying down more debt obligation than we’ll be borrowing,” Weinstein tells WOKV.

Curry says the City is cutting its debt by about $75 million under this budget proposal, and he says his team expects to continue paying off more than we take on for the next few years.

Curry also sees these projects that would be funded in the CIP as ways to spur economic development. He cited funding the New World Avenue corridor and Chaffee Road improvements as two projects designed to spur growth in certain neighborhoods. The proposed CIP says the New World Avenue project has already received $4.3 million, and would get $3.4 million to complete the project in FY 15-16. The Chaffee Road project, however, has an estimated price tag of $27.2 million overall, and only $4 million of that is proposed for this upcoming year.

Many other projects highlight the questions of how to move forward. For example, the Jax Beach Pier decking replacement totals $850,000, which the CIP would pay in its entirety this upcoming year. Conversely, improvements for the Highlands Branch Library Children’s Center and Webb Wesconnett Branch Library Children’s Center each total $500,000, and each would only see $20,000 in the upcoming CIP, with the remaining $480,000 proposed for the year after.

“Right now, because of the one-time funding sources and then pulling everything they can get their hands on, that made it a little easier this year. Next year is when the rubber will hit the road,” says Finance Chair Bill Gulliford.

Gulliford says he’s happy to see a lot of these projects put forward, but the spike in debt capacity in future years is something he plans to take a close look at with the Council during their upcoming budget hearing. I asked whether some of the projects may be scaled back or eliminated altogether.

“I guess we’ll have to look at that,” Gulliford says.

The Council has given every indication they’re ready and willing to start seriously addressing the capital needs. Gulliford says septic tank remediation is one of the looming issues. He’s also happy to see funding for the St. Johns River Ferry. Curry further highlighted funding for ADA compliance issues, sidewalks, park upgrades and more.

The CIP is an area that will be reviewed along with the budget overall. Both must be passed by the Council ahead of October 1^st. WOKV will continue combing through the new proposals to see how your money could be spent.