Wednesday, August 22, 2007

City Support for Nonprofits in Jeopardy

HELP SAVE OUR CITY!!

I hope everyone is aware of the finance committee debates about Public Service Grant funding for nonprofits in Jacksonville. As a newbie to city government myself, I am still learning about the effect of Governor Christ's property tax cuts on local budgets and city services. Here is a super quick synopsis.

In July, the Florida Legislature passed a bill that will require cities throughout Florida to rollback city budgets to the 2006-7 fiscal year amount. Added to the COJ's existing deficit, this legislation will create a $65 million shortfall in Jacksonville's city budget. The Mayor proposed a budget that would cut department budgets by 10% while adding fees for trash, storm runoff, etc. Visit coj.net to see the Mayor's entire presentation. Currently, City Council is "ripping to shreds" the Mayor's proposed budget. A final budget must be past by October 1, 2007.

The finance committee meeting to discuss Public Service Grants will be held Thursday, August 23 from 9-12pm at City Hall. Over $11 million in PSG funds are in jeopardy of being lost to offset the deficit. Visit helpsaveourcity.com
for more information about what Jacksonville will lose as a result of Christ's property tax legislation.

6 comments:

madeleine said...

I heard on NPR a couple of weeks ago that the average annual saving will be about $127.00 per houshold per year.

The region that will see major differences is South Florida.

Mark Creegan said...

this makes me sick

Mark Creegan said...

thaks for posting this! Really Important!

Byron said...

it's a really cool site too.

you can email the entir city council with one form here:

http://helpsaveourcity.com/contact_council.html

check it out.

jim draper said...

Please go to the link
http://helpsaveourcity.com/
that is on the orriginal post. There is an
easy form to send to your representative.

jim draper said...

(as Byron said)