Jacksonville councilors debate $45 million downtown incentive fund, seek balance with citywide needs

Council members at a Jacksonville City Council meeting discussed a bill to allocate $45,000,000 from a city self-insurance surplus to a Downtown Economic Development Fund to finance incentives for downtown projects, particularly on the riverfront. The sponsor said the goal was to lay groundwork for committee consideration next week.

The bill sponsor, Councilman Joe Carlucci (District 5), opened the discussion saying "the goal for this meeting is just to, I guess, you know, talk about the $45,000,000 bill," and to let colleagues weigh in before the item goes to committee. Council members reviewed which downtown parcels would be eligible under a map Carlucci presented and debated whether to expand the geographic boundary to include Hogan Street, Laura Street and parcels near Birkman and the jail.

The proposal draws on a surplus in the city's self-insurance fund. City finance staff explained the fund's actuarial requirement and current balance: "the actuary says we have to have a $160,000,000 set aside for our workers' comp…