Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 134 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Excess police calls would cost more ‘It’s a matter of fairness,’ Crescimbeni says
By Max Marbut Staff Writer If police are called to an address an excessive number of times, the person or business requiring that service should pay more. That’s the proposal from City Council member John Crescimbeni, who put the idea on the table Wednesday at the Special Ad Hoc Committee on Jacksonville’s Neighborhood Blight. He compared the concept to a utility bill. “If you use more electricity or water, your bill is higher,” Crescimbeni said. “It’s a matter of fairness.” He said a new way to collect for excess services could be based on provisions in
the municipal code that apply to when police respond to false burglar alarms. There’s no penalty for the first six responses to false alarms in a 12-month period. Each false alarm after that results in a $25 civil penalty. A 13th violation within a 12-month period also results in immediate revocation of the license decal issued for the alarm system. The system must then be inspected, serviced and certified to the satisfaction of the alarm inspection officer of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and a new decal issued at a fee of $25. Crescimbeni presented a list of eight cities that levy an additional charge for “excessive” or “chronic” use of resources.
Those municipalities are as close as Daytona Beach and as far away as Anchorage, Alaska. In addition to geographically, the two municipalities also are far apart in terms of violation thresholds and penalties. In Anchorage, “excessive police response” is defined as more than eight calls per year for a residential property or more than 100 calls per year for a commercial property. The owner and tenant of those properties shall jointly pay $500 per excess response, enforceable by lien for non-payment. In Daytona Beach, excess consumption is more than 15 service incidents or 10 manhours in any week and up to 75 incidents or 50 man-hours in a year. Police calls... Continued on Page A-4
Crescimbeni
Hobby Lobby leaving Regency
Bay Street, west of Newnan Street, was closed Wednesday for the installation of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival Groovin’ Stage. East Bay Street from Ocean to the Shipyards will be closed until early Monday morning to all traffic except pedestrians. The festival kicks off at 7 p.m. today with the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition at the Florida Theatre, followed by three days of music, food and beverages. For the complete schedule of performers, visit makeascenedowntown.com.
Photo by Max Marbut
Four days of jazz Downtown
One last attempt for pension reform
By David Chapman Staff Writer
City Council has seen several iterations of pension reform over the past four years, but decided against pulling the trigger on any deal for different reasons. It didn’t go “far enough.” The deal was too long. It didn’t include a funding source. Yet, despite time winding down for more than half of the council members, Bill Gulliford wants to take one last crack at making headway on pension reform.
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“Every day, the cost continues,” Gulliford told several of his colleagues and city staffers Wednesday. They met to talk about a financial wrinkle in a plan Gulliford pitched in late April. His plan largely keeps the benefits side intact, while making concessions on the deal’s length and pay-down structure. The amendment has the city paying $5 million next year above what’s required, increasing by $5 million each year until it caps at $20 million a year. No funding source is identified.
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In return, the Police and Fire Pension Fund would do the same. Its funding would come from almost $80 million in two fund-relat- Gulliford ed accounts it would keep and continue to draw interest from, in addition to the $10 million or so added each year in state chapter funds — insurance premium taxes employees pay. The current council has three
full meetings left before the incoming council members take office July 1. Gulliford will be around another four years after being reelected. Eleven of his colleagues won’t. “How long will it take them to get up to speed?” Gulliford asked Wednesday evening. “It’s not anything negative … we need to move on with this thing.” He said nine members supported the latest reform, with the others — himself included — unable to agree on several issues. Pension... Continued on Page A-3
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Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. intends to close its Regency Park store at 9400 Atlantic Blvd. when the arts and crafts chain opens its new location in the Parkway Shops in North Jacksonville. Spokesman Vincent Parker said Tuesday the Regency store’s 24 jobs will be transferred to the Parkway Shops location, near River City Marketplace. The Regency store opened in February 2006. Construction has been approved for the new store. Parker said he did not know the opening date. Edward Eickhoff is vice president of development and redevelopment for Ramco-Gershenson Inc., the owner and developer of Parkway Shops as well as the adjacent River City Marketplace. He said the store should open in October. The new store, at 15324 Max Leggett Parkway, will be developed across from the UF Health Jacksonville North campus. KTM Builders LLC is the contractor for Hobby Lobby at a job cost of $1.98 million. Mathis... Continued
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Hobby Lobby intends to relocate from its Arlington store to North Jacksonville. consecutive weekdays