Daily Record FINANCIAL NEWS &
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2017
Vol. 104, No. 039 • oNe SectioN
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Good year lets city increase reserves
Committee OKs putting ‘grain in the storehouse’
Seven-year old Tim d’Esterhazy, an aspiring violinist, stands at the conductor’s rostrum and waves the baton after the Symphony in 60 program. He and his mother were in town from New York to visit family.
Photos by Fran Ruchalski
By Max Marbut, Staff Writer
Building a new audience
Symphony in 60 events drawing increased crowds By Fran Ruchalski Contributing Writer
Young budding violinist Tim d’Esterhazy saw his first symphony performance Thursday night. He loved the music and his mother, Kris, loved the format. The two attended the Symphony in 60, where an hour-long performance is book-ended by two social events. After the Jacksonville Symphony concert, 7-year-old Tim and others got to go on stage in Jacoby Symphony Hall and mingle with the musicians. Plus, Tim got a chance to stand on the conductor’s rostrum and pretend he was directing the symphony. The symphony began the Thursday night events last season, shortly after music director Courtney Lewis arrived. He had run similar events when he was associate director of the Minnesota Orchestra. The target audience isn’t necessarily youngsters like Tim. It’s Downtown workers and others who don’t typically attend a full performance of the symphony. Based on last season’s success, the symphony increased the hour-long Thursday night performances to four this season. The evening has a more casual air, starting off with a happy hour
While Liz Morgan has been a fan of the symphony, the Symphony in 60 is the first performance she has attended. where the attendees enjoy beverages and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 p.m. The hour-long performance follows at 6:30 p.m. The evening concludes with an after-party where members of the audience can meet and talk with the musicians. Tickets are $25. And audiences are responding. More than 600 were sold for SYMPHONY
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When it comes to the actual versus projected performance of the city’s general fund budget, 2015-16 was a very good year. So good, the City Council Finance Committee voted Thursday to draft legislation to increase the reserve fund by 20 percent. “The general fund is in a strong position,” said Kirk Sherman, council auditor. Expenses on the whole were lower than anticipated and revenues were greater than projected, resulting in the budget being 1.5 percent ahead, he said. Sherman suggested increasing the reserve from 5 percent of the $1 billion budget to 6 percent by transferring about $11 million into the city’s account earmarked for unexpected expenses. “It’s prudent, especially when times are good,” said council member Bill Gulliford. Council member Greg Anderson put it another way. “It’s good to put grain in the storehouse,” he said. Sherman said the major factors on the plus side were collection of about $4.6 million in overdue property taxes and increases in the JEA service tax and franchise fee due to higher than projected utility sales during the unusually hot sum- Sherman mer. Also contributing to the surplus, employee cost was down about 0.5 percent for a net gain of about $3.6 million. On the minus side, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department experienced higher overtime expenses. Sherman said that was to be expected due to the departments’ budget totals and the number of personnel vacancies on the books in each department. However, Sherman said, the Sheriff’s Office fleet and motor pool expenses were about $2.3 million less than anticipated. He said use of the reserve fund must be requested by the mayor for a specific purpose by “declaring a necessity” and
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Hillwood buys land for Amazon center
In the wake of Amazon.com’s announcement that it will open a fulfillment center in Cecil Commerce Center, Hillwood Investment Properties bought the 86-acre site where land is being cleared for the project. Through 103 BLDG C LLC, Hillwood paid the city $783,341.55, which works out to about $9,103 an acre. The city netted $779,096.27 after closing costs. The deed was executed Wednesday and recorded Thursday with the Duval County Clerk of Courts. Fort Worth-based Hillwood
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is the city’s master developer at Cecil Commerce Center. Senior Vice President Dan Tatsch said Thursday that Hillwood will develop the facility for Amazon and has not decided whether it will sell the completed facility or retain ownership of it. The internet retailer said Wednesday it will open a second fulfillment center in Jacksonville after announcing the first in July. The first, a multilevel center to handle small consumer goods, is under development in Northwest Jacksonville at 12900 Pecan Park Road. That facility is 855,000
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square feet, although its multilevel construction increases the size to 2.4 million square feet. The second, at 13333 103rd St., will be a 1 million-square-foot facility to handle larger products. City legislation shows the two centers will create 2,700 jobs and receive $26.7 million in city and state taxpayer incentives.
Legislation adopted Oct. 11 for the Cecil center incentives outlined that Hillwood would pay $8,819 an acre for the 86 acres, totaling about $758,000. The master agreement allows for adjustments. While that per-acre amount appears low, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission determined at the time of the 2010 master agreement that it would cost Hillwood an average of $83,000 per acre to make Cecil’s property ready for development, given the need to work with wetlands and to build infra-
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structure. The 2010 city project summary of the agreement says Hillwood will invest $1.3 billion in infrastructure, land development and vertical development costs as part of the master development plan, including $42 million in public infrastructure costs. By comparison, USAA Real Estate Co., through RELP Duval LLC, paid $15 million — about $96,770 an acre — for 155 acres in Northwest Jacksonville for the first Amazon center. RELP also paid $700,000 for MATHIS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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