Mike Hogan's $62 Million Budget Cutting Plan

April 14, 2011 131 comments Open printer friendly version of this article Print Article

Metro Jacksonville shares mayoral candidate's Mike Hogan's plan to get the city's financial house in order.



Mike Hogan Proven as a Dollar Saver

In a recent column that appeared in the Times Union’s opinion section, Ron Littlepage wrote about city spending and taxes.

The truth is, as tax collector, my office absorbed the entire drivers licensing function previously performed by the state here in Jacksonville and did so with greater efficiency and convenience to the taxpayer – we cut wait times in half and provide longer hours at more locations.

In 2003 we performed just 40,000 drivers license transactions and, in 2010, we performed 212,000. It is dishonest to ignore the more than $1 million savings.

And, as Jacksonville’s next mayor, I will take a long hard look at how the entire city is spending the taxpayers’ hard-earned money and take every opportunity to stretch every dollar. It’s that simple.

I have a detailed plan to cut more than $62 million in wasteful government spending:

$30 million savings: Aggregate 5 percent reductions in all department/agency general fund budgets

- Flatten organization hierarchy.
- Eliminate vacant positions that are funded each year.
- Combine job responsibilities.
- Combine department and division functions.

$28 million savings: Implement common-sense purchasing procedures

- Harness the purchasing power of state and other local governments.
- Utilize best and final offer contracting where applicable.
- Eliminate restrictions on Internet and discount store purchasing.
- Implement telecom expense management.
- Evaluate every existing contract.

These steps will save at least 7 percent of the $400 million the city spends in purchasing each year. And there’s more:

$3 million savings: Reduce mayoral appointees by a third

- There are currently more than 200 paid mayoral appointees in city government at a cost of more than $12 million.
- Reducing mayoral appointees by a third will save at least $3 million.

$1 million savings: Downsize public relations office by 50 percent

- Department heads will work directly with the Mayor’s Office to ensure timely deliverance of media inquiries and public records requests.

$300,000 savings: Eliminate use of paid lobbyists

- The city of Jacksonville pays Washington lobbyists $300,000 per year to lobby the federal government.
- I will work closely with our legislative and congressional delegations to advocate for Jacksonville’s best interests in Tallahassee and Washington.

For more information: http://hoganformayor.com/blog/the-issues/2011/03/mike-hogan-proven-as-a-dollar-saver/

By Mike Hogan