Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry presented his budget proposals to the City Council Monday morning.
Curry told City Council, “I stand here willing to give the sheriff the resources that he and his people need to make sure that Jacksonville is a safe city.”
He says his top priority of safety is reflected in his proposed budget. He wants to add 40 police officers and 40 community service officers to the force. Sheriff Mike Williams says community service officers would free up police officers to fight crime.
Williams said, “They can do things that right now a policeman has to do but probably someone else could do. And again they take some of that minor workload off those officers.”
Curry says federal and state grant money will pay for 15 of the officers.
The mayor also wants to increase funding for the Jacksonville Journey initiative from just over $2 million last year, to just over $5 million.
The Journey is funding for nonprofit programs aimed at stopping violent crime in the city. Many of them focus on at-risk youth.
“The Jacksonville Journey is a statement to these children that you’re not just a problem to get rid of,” Curry said. “But that we care about you,we want to make sure that you’re successful and we are putting our money where our mouth and our heart is.”
Curry hasn’t specified which additional programs he’d fund, but says they should have a measurable return.
The budget also includes money for city-improvement projects. He says an unused $58 million was discovered in an audit this month.
“Gone are the days of those that fail to show you the taxpayer the value of the hard work and sweat that you put into every single tax dollar that comes into this government,” Curry said. “I am proposing $70 million in new capital projects that use $58 million in money that was previously laying around that had not been put to use by the taxpayer.”
Some of those proposed capital improvements include road resurfacing, park enhancements and $850,000 for Jacksonville Beach pier repairs.
About $7 million would be budgeted to get public roads, sidewalks and libraries up to federal Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
And Curry proposes spending more than $17 million on developing the Shipyards property downtown.
City Council has just over two months to approve a budget.
