Seth Johnson
The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) decided to review the city of Gainesville’s budget reductions at a future meeting and discover the impact on county initiatives.
A letter from the city of Gainesville sparked the discussion during the commissioner’s comment section at Tuesday’s regular meeting. The letter, written by Mayor Harvey Ward at the request of the Gainesville City Commission, asks the BOCC to provide financial support for GRACE Marketplace as the city considers budget reductions.
Gainesville is trying to patch a $16 million shortfall in its annual budget, caused by a 55% reduction in the government services contribution from Gainesville Regional Utilities to the general budget.
Budget reductions include the Reichert House, one city-produced event at Depot Park, funding for July 4 sponsorships, special exhibitions at The Thomas Center Galleries and a stipend for the management of the Wilhelmina Johnson Center. Ironwood Golf Course lacked funding for next year as well, but the city included the course back into the budget on a management watch.
The letter said the city wanted to ensure the community is cared for with the programs and safety nets in place.
“I’m reticent to include dollar figures because the amount we will be able to fund is not definite and because, if you are able to exceed a bare minimum, outcomes will likely be improved,” the letter said.
County commissioners disagreed with the way Gainesville has gone about some of the cuts.
“That’s an open letter saying how much can you give us,” BOCC Commissioner Ken Cornell said. “I don’t think that’s right.”
Cornell said the city should clearly tell the public and the BOCC what items will be cut and by how much. He said that he doesn’t want to discuss picking up the shortfall until the county has a number from the city.
Chair Anna Prizzia agreed and said she just wanted to put the item on a budget meeting agenda instead of delaying it. She added that county staff should return with a list of joint projects between the county and city along with projected financial cuts to those projects.
“I don’t want to go all the way through our budget, and then we haven’t had this conversation, and then on the 11th hour, we’re trying to shove something into the budget or not,” Prizzia said.
The city of Gainesville will vote on a preliminary budget in September, and numbers have shifted as city staff continue looking for cuts and adjusting based on commission input. Increases in property taxes may also help provide the difference from last year’s budget. The preliminary millage rate will be set at the city’s Sept. 7 meeting.
BOCC Commissioner Mary Alford said the city cut a position that the county has funded through the community redevelopment agency.
“We were paying for something that they just cut from their own budget without even acknowledging that we were already paying for it,” Alford said. “That’s the weird politicking that’s going on.”
Cornell said that position isn’t the only example, and the BOCC decided to open their budget item from just GRACE Marketplace to all items in the Gainesville budget that might impact county initiatives.
Cornell noted that the city and county both made long-term commitments with GRACE Marketplace. While the city goes through budget restrictions, he said the county faces similar budget constraints but continues helping through $1.5 million for permanent supportive housing—like the county’s Budget Inn project.
The Gainesville City Commission rehashed some of that history at its June 14 meeting, when the commission authorized a letter to the BOCC.
GRACE Marketplace executive director Jon DeCarmine told the commission that Gainesville and Alachua County began by equally supporting the shelter at GRACE in 2014. Around 2019, the BOCC decided to shift funds from the shelter to permanent supportive housing.
Initial budgets by the city cut funding by 50% to GRACE Marketplace, from $1.5 million to $750,000. However, the commission eventually settled on adding another $300,000 to GRACE’s annual allocation.
As announced so far, the City Commission has reduced their budget less than $2 million, out of a total budget of $153 million. It has actually increased, since the “savings” are counted by not filling currently empty jobs in the city. Smoke and mirrors continue as the city politicians take away one week and put back with a greater budget the next. They have announced a full one mil property tax increase (to make up for the usual theft of GRU funds) plus a fire tax and wastewater increase.
The City Commission has a rubber stamp for every hairbrained liberal scheme that comes down the track. When are they going to consider the tax payers, many of us are also on the edge?