Uncertainties Persist as Duval DOGE Committee Analyzes Florida DOGE Report

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In a bid to tackle assertions of excessive expenditure, Jacksonville’s Duval DOGE committee is scrutinizing findings from a state-level audit conducted by Florida’s DOGE team. The audit, led by the Chief Financial Officer, cites what it perceives as significant overspending within the city.

During their Tuesday meeting, the committee tasked the council auditor’s office with a thorough examination of the state report, requesting an independent audit of the highlighted financial figures. Together with the auditor’s office, committee members meticulously reviewed each entry in the report.

Council Auditor Kim Taylor, along with her team, conducted an independent financial analysis in light of the state’s findings. Their assessment confirmed some valid points, such as a rise in personnel expenses over recent years. However, they noted that the state report overlooked critical factors, such as collective bargaining contingencies, when calculating these costs.

Additionally, the auditor’s office raised concerns about a $7.5 million sidewalk project flagged as ‘excessive spending’ in the Florida DOGE report. Taylor suspects the reference is to the Art Museum Sidewalks Project, a substantial undertaking included in the city’s capital improvement plan. However, the state report seemingly failed to consider the project’s full scope, which involves constructing sidewalks on both sides of the road, along with necessary bridge work and adjustments to slope walls.

Chair of the Duval DOGE Committee Ron Salem said this description of the project may have been missed when the state DOGE team looked at the city’s capital improvement plan.

“Clearly, the description needs to be better so they’re not looking at a $7.5 million sidewalk, if that’s the one. We’re still not convinced that’s the project,” Salem explained.

The council auditor’s office was not able to verify how the state came up with $500,000 in overtime spending in their report if referring to Fiscal Year 2024/2025, but they did verify the hundreds of hours of overtime for parks and rec, public works, and parking staff. According to the state report, 27 Parks and Recreation staff recorded an average of 650 hours of overtime each, eight Traffic Engineering staff recorded an average of 700 hours of overtime each, and four parking staff exceeded 500 hours of overtime.

According to the administration, parks staff cover weekend park maintenance and special events set-up. The parking staff also work special events after business hours during the week and on the weekends. The Administration also said they are down one-third of the workforce in the Signal section of the Public Works department.

Chair of the Duval DOGE Committee Ron Salem said overtime is something the city council will need to address in the upcoming budget.

“I think going through the budget process is one way that we can get into number of vacant positions, how do we avoid overtime and if it’s really excessive, obviously the inspector general can take a look at it,” Salem said.

One of biggest claims in the Florida DOGE report was the allegations of spending on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The report claimed the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville gave grant money that was used to promote DEI initiatives.

The council auditor’s office clarified that the city gives the Cultural Council a lump sum of money and has no say in where the money goes after that. 

The state report claims the city gave $480,000 to the Cathedral Arts Project through the Cultural Council and that money was used to fund the ‘Justice Involved Youth’ Program, which it says promotes DEI. In a letter to the committee, the Cathedral Arts Project said the money was not used for the youth program. Taylor confirmed the grant was used for salaries. The Cathedral Arts Project receives private money to fund the Justice Involved Youth Program, which provides structured visual arts instruction inside the Duval County juvenile detention center. 

The Jacksonville Symphony was also named in the Florida DOGE report for DEI claims and receiving $538,000 from the Cultural Council. In a letter to the committee, representatives for the symphony said the money was used to pay musician salaries. 

Members of the Duval DOGE committee discussed possibly having more oversight over where the Cultural Council is giving grants.

“Presently, we give the public service grant $7 million and they allocate it. I think we’d like to see a bit more scrutiny on that, whether that comes back to the council or we set up some guidelines that says you can’t fund these particular areas in your $7 million. I think those things are up for discussion,” Salem explained.

The report also said the city awarded the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network (JASMYN) a $27,000 grant. The auditor’s office found the Public Service Grant Council awarded JASMYN $90,339.

Salem added he is going to be sending the council auditor’s findings to the Florida DOGE team to see if they can provide more clarity on some of the figures in their report.