Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Analysis topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Auditors: city budgets grew faster than standard inflation; public safety and several transfers are main drivers
Summary
Auditors told the Duval DOGE subcommittee that departmental budgets from fiscal 2017-18 to 2024-25 have grown beyond a combined inflation-plus-population benchmark of 5.4% in several areas, with public safety, health funding, IT enterprise costs and insurance claims cited as major contributors.
Auditors presented a department-level budget comparison to the Duval DOGE Council Subcommittee showing that city budgets from fiscal 2017-18 to 2024-25 have grown beyond an auditor-constructed combined benchmark of 5.4 percent in a number of departments and citywide accounts. The auditors identified public safety, health and indigent-care funding, IT enterprise costs, insurance and self-insurance claims, and transfers out for specific programs as the primary drivers.
"What we looked at is using a CPI growth rate of 3.59% and a population combined annual growth rate of 1.75% ... that combines to 5.4 as what your combined growth each year, that would be a normal expected inflationary type of increase," Counsel Auditor Kim Taylor told the committee. The auditors then highlighted department-level amounts that exceed that combined expected growth.
Auditors reported that total departmental growth over the period was about $528 million; they said roughly $446 million of that increase was attributable to public safety line items. Taylor and staff walked the committee through several specific variances and footnotes that explain portions of the growth:
- Health-related funding: funding to the Duval County Health Department increased for services including primary care and pediatric dental programs, contributing to an above-benchmark rise in the health-administration line item.
- Indigent care and hospital funding: funding for Shands increased from roughly $26.2 million in 2017-18 to about $56 million in 2024-25, the auditors said.
- Children's services: transfers labeled "KHA operations" rose from about $29.8 million to $56 million; auditors attributed the increase mainly to expanded funding for service providers for children's programs.
- IT and enterprise systems: Technology Solutions (IT) spending grew due to OneCloud implementation and license costs (including Microsoft licensing) and additional IT staff and system-development expenditures.
- Insurance and self-insurance: auditors flagged a large increase in the self-insurance fund driven in part by heart-and-hypertension claims for JSO and JFRD, and separately noted property-insurance costs rose substantially.
- Citywide transfers and grants: auditors listed multiple citywide transfers and one-time additions that contributed to growth, including increased funding for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, cultural service grants, public-service grants to nonprofits, and a $1 million budget action tied to state-related house-bill funding directed to a homelessness initiative special revenue fund. Auditors also cited transfers that reflect ordinance or code-authorized set-asides (for example, a transfer mechanism tied to Municipal Code section 111.92).
Council members asked for further breakdowns and recurring-vs.-one-time indicators. Councilman Joe Carlucci asked which increases were one-time versus recurring; Taylor said it was a mixture and that some items (for example, certain event contributions) were one-time while others (such as contractual or program funding) recur. Councilman Raw Arias asked for chronological context and for which items had been in the pipeline the longest; auditors said they could supply project-creation dates or last-expenditure dates where available.
Several council members emphasized the packet's importance for the budget process. Councilmember Chris Miller urged closer attention to overtime as a place to look for savings; other members said the material should feed directly into Finance Committee deliberations on the upcoming budget. The auditors said the report is intended to provide a baseline for the budget cycle and that departments' staff responses will help explain reasonable causes for variances.
No formal votes were taken. The subcommittee directed auditors and staff to provide more detail on recurring versus one-time costs, a breakdown of municipal dues and memberships, and time-series context to show when individual items were added. Auditors said they would add clarifying footnotes and return with more detailed breakdowns during the budget process.
