Council President Comes Under Fire From Citizens, Sheriff

Abel Harding

Weeks after City Council President Richard Clark expressed his commitment to identifying nearly $50 million in savings, he unveiled a step in his plan to achieve those savings---eliminating many of the city's volunteer boards and commissions.  While it is unclear how eliminating volunteer boards will help eliminate a $50 million deficit, Clark's proposal is wide-reaching and could have drastic implications for the future of Jacksonville.  Among the boards and commissions Clark would like to see chopped are:

• TRUE Commission
• Environmental Advisory Board
• Historic Preservation Committee
• Human Rights Commission
• Council on Elderly Affairs
• Cultural Services Grant Committee
• Cultural Council
• Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC)

While I have advocated on more than one occasion that the city take a look at the volume of Commissions and Boards it has to determine if all are still necessary, I do find it rather shocking that a Council President would propose the nearly complete elimination of any method of volunteer public involvement.

Pardon me, but it's not adding up.

To the Finance Committee's credit, Clark's proposal was tabled and will be considered at the August 27 meeting.  Reaction around the city seems to indicate confusion as to how the elimination of volunteer boards and commissions will help the city achieve any significant costs savings.

One of the speaker's at today's Finance Committee meeting was less than laudatory.  Sheriff John Rutherford accused the Council, in effect, of choosing political gain by raiding the city's pension reserve funds during the good years and choosing to blame the City's Police and Fireman for a financial situation for which they are not responsible.  The Sheriff has made it clear that he will not support pay cuts for city employees, particularly for the Sheriff Department where Duval lags behind the rest of the state in pay for officers, despite the fact that we lead the state in murders.

Despite all of the talk of paycuts, the Committee made no moves to cut their own salaries, nor did Richard Clark offer to cut the additional $15,000 a year he makes as Council President.  The Committee also failed to take any action to reduce the budget of the City Council by eliminating benefits and reducing the number of aides.

So far, these solutions aren't cutting it.  Let's talk when we hear some serious proposals.

Tags: Budget, Finance Committee, Jacksonville City Council, John Peyton, John Rutherford, Local Politics, Richard Clark

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 9:36 AM and is filed under Local Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.