What Happened
According to an investigative report by a local television station, the city council in Jacksonville, Florida, is looking to reclaim millions of unspent dollars from local agencies.
Details
The money in question could total hundreds of millions of tax dollars and fees from agencies that haven’t yet utilized the money. According to the televised report, Jacksonville Council President Bill Bishop said, “all of the various independent authorities have large cash balances in various accounts.”
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The Plan
Though there isn’t a codified plan yet, it appears that the city is looking at potentially reclaiming unused money at those agencies to fund constructions projects that could stimulate the economy.
Agencies that could be affected by this plan include major ones like the electric utility JEA, the port authority, and the aviation authority, which runs Jacksonville International Airport.
The Reason
According to Bishop, the relationship with those authorities is opaque, and lacks fiscal transparency. “The city itself as an entity really doesn’t know how they operate, other than what they tell us.” The exercise of digging into those agencies’ financials could bring much needed transparency, he argues. Councilmember Matt Schellenberg agreed, saying, “We have done a very poor job of managing money we have been given.”
The Reaction
Agencies haven’t been ecstatic about the news, as one would expect. According to Schellenberg, while agencies may not be utilizing all their allocated dollars, it is irresponsible and “wrong” for the city to arbitrarily reclaim dollars for construction projects that taxpayers may not support. That’s especially relevant amid taxpayer anger over poorly developed projects, from a controversial $350 million courthouse, to the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, which was riddled with construction defects.
Precedent
The biggest question here is whether a city can reclaim or redeem monies that have been allocated to agencies. Some have attempted to do so: New York is going after $9.8 million in unused funds from the Housing Preservation and Development Department, and a disabilities administration in Maryland was forced to return $25 million in unspent state funding.
Examples of reclaimed monies are more common when linked to specific grants. A planning department in New York returned money due to unused grants and awards, and Fenton, Missouri, looked to reclaim money allocated for grant qualification that went unused.
Even the feds are working on this: A congressional subcommittee is looking to reclaim unused money from the ’09 economic stimulus that was allocated to broadband deployment programs.
The situation in Jacksonville may entail different sets of circumstances on an agency-by-agency basis, and we’ll continue to track it for Gov1 readers. If you have any insight or experience with this matter, please feel free to contact Gov1 directly.