District 5 news: Lori Boyer

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Dear Friends,
 
As is the case each year, the summer focus at City Hall has been on adoption of the budget for next year (the year begins October first).  But what a different experience from the last four years! In mid-July, Mayor Curry presented the Council with an honestly balanced budget- no accounting gimmicks or use of reserves, but a budget balanced from current revenue.  On top of that, as we worked through the budget and uncovered discrepancies here and there, Mr. Mousa, the Chief Administrative Officer, and Mr. Weinstein, the acting Chief Financial Officer, were able to respond to questions and provide answers.  It was still a grueling process over many day-long hearings, but the result the Finance Committee is sending to full Council is a great budget for the coming year.

Certainly the increase in both property values and state sales tax revenue helped in the process, as did the work of our CIP Committee last year that both reigned in borrowing and put us in better financial shape and identified tens of millions of dollars that are used in this year's capital budget.

The upcoming budget:

    Funds forty new police officers and community service officers
    Restores library hours at regional branches and in the urban core, as well as providing capital funding for several library repairs and improvements
    Provides funding for restoration of pay cuts for those City employees who took cuts in 2010 and are still paid less than they were prior to the cut
    Provides funding for additional Jacksonville Journey (crime prevention/intervention) initiatives
    Provides adequate capital funding for roadway resurfacing, drainage system repairs, sidewalks, etc. to begin to address the current backlog of needs
    Provides funding for demolition and replacement of the hazardous bridges at Liberty/Coastline and the former Courthouse
    Funds a major portion of the next phase of the Trail Ridge Landfill

 As you can see, there are a lot of positive improvements and the budget has clear priorities. While funding and service levels in many areas were maintained at  last year's level, there is a clear focus on making Jacksonville safer and reducing crime and in properly maintaining our public infrastructure- for me there are few who could argue with those priorities for the use of your tax dollars.
 
As budget wraps up, I look forward to a renewed focus on District issues as well as unfinished business from the Consolidated Government Task Force and completion of the CIP committee work in October.  I remain grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve in this role and as always, don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.


Warm Regards,
Lori
P.S.  don't forget to check out the website www.loriboyer.org, for updates on many other issues and upcoming events.