Did Jax City Council reallocate $19.9 million, or misappropriate $19.9 million

 
If you ask Sheriff Mike Williams, whose department is set to split $16.8 million with JFRD, I’m sure he would say it was clearly a reallocation.

This is the same Sheriff Mike Williams who recently submitted a $513 million dollar budget proposal to that same city council, an increase of $29 million from last year.

If you ask any financially struggling local small business owner, or any local renter who is behind on rent, or any local homeowner in danger of losing their home, they would say, and they have been saying, all over social media and around our city today, it was misappropriation. Some have said it was outright theft. 

Those are the people that the  CARES Act funding was intended to help. Those are the people that help was taken away from; small business owners, renters and homeowners unable to pay rent/mortgage and others with Covid related expenses that were not covered by FEMA.

The Jacksonville City Council decided rather than help people struggling to get by they would take the remaining CARES funding and spread it around to agencies and groups.
The city council also approved a $21 million incentive package for Dun & Bradstreet moving its headquarters from New Jersey. The city council doesn’t have money when it comes to helping our citizens, or our local small businesses, and rather than spend Federal money that was provided to help our citizens and local small businesses, the city council gives that money away, and then drops 21 million on an out of state business!

The city council is okay with spending 21 million on a New Jersey business but refuses to spend the $4.6 million that the Feds gave the city for local small businesses, on small businesses! 

The Jacksonville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to pass the legislation reallocating $19.9 million in federal CARES Act funding.

Money being “reallocated” from:
Grants to support small business relief loans – $4.6 million
Expenses not reimbursed by FEMA – $12.5 million
Eviction and foreclosure prevention program – $2.8 million
Areas receiving funding:
JSO and JFRD overtime incurred since March 2020 – $16.8 million
Jacksonville Symphony COVID business harm – $1 million
Cathedral District Jax COVID business harm – $50,000
Health Department enhanced services contract – $250,000
Emergency Operations Center systems/equipment upgrades – $488,016
Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry – $172,276
To be determined for future COVID qualifying expenses – $1,127,724