The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee had a quorum for their Tuesday meeting, despite the fact that the committee chairman could not attend. Charles Notar, who heads the committee, was volunteering with the American Red Cross and helping evacuees who had come to the area to escape Hurricane Gustav.The other committee members, councilmen George Areno and Truman Norred, were present and so the meeting to view and discuss the city’s draft budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year could progress.
Mayor Johnny Smith began the discussions with some bad news. The Alabama Department of Transportation has increased their cost estimate for the widening and resurfacing of Greenleaf Street. The new estimate is $1,719,000.
“It’s gone up another $600,000,” said Smith. “Here’s the dilemma there, MPO has no more funds. So, whatever it costs above that $1,230,209, which is almost $500,000, to do that project is ours.”
Another budgetary item that may increase is the amount to be spent on repairs at the old Wal-Mart building. The city has tentatively budgeted $250,000 to replace air conditioning and make the other repairs, but Smith acknowledged the actual cost could easily top $400,000.
Smith plans to discuss another question mark in the budget with the full council at next Monday night’s council meeting – land at the former Union Yarn Mill where the three-story building is currently being removed. If the city intends to buy the land, the funds need to be budgeted.
The committee spent most of the hour-and-sixteen-minute-long meeting going through the $13,519,016 budget page-by-page to see which items could be cut and where the city could curb spending, since the city is anticipating a lean year in revenues.
“I kind of feel with this budget we’re in a real crucial situation. It’s probably the most crucial situation we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Smith, adding the city may have to dip into its portion of the Alabama Trust Fund and the remaining proceeds from the sale of the hospital in order to balance the budget.
One thing that may not make it into the final budget is the Fourth of July fireworks display. Jacksonville State University has split the cost of the fireworks with the city in the past and opted not to participate this year due to their own money woes.
During the meeting, the committee pored over 25 pages of the budget. The remaining budget items will be discussed at the next finance committee meeting. No date and time for that meeting has been set.
As the committee prepared to adjourn, Areno added one final item for discussion – a new City Hall. He said the city council needs to make a decision on how much they are willing to spend on a new City Hall and whether or not they plan to begin work on it within the next few years before a decision is made on the library expansion project.
“Until we know what we’re going to spend on City Hall I don’t think we need to do anything about the library,” Areno said.
