JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- All eyes have been on Jacksonville's city budget. We now know...the numbers everyone has been fighting over are wrong.
"We both discovered it. The auditor's office and we discovered it," Ronnie Belton, Chief Financial Officer said.
Belton says he just discovered a $5 million hole in the budget. He says formulas used to tally up state funds weren't used properly.
City Council members say the goof is actually bigger...for a total deficit of $7.2 million. We cut right to the heart of the matter.
Five million or 7.2? Does this mean more job cuts? Belton says no.
"That is not a priority for us in terms of more layoffs. That's not what we're looking at. We think there are other ways to get this done and we'll do it," he continued.
Some taxpayers aren't so convinced. They're upset about the potential layoffs as it it...and don't want to see more.
"City Council members can take cuts. There's people in local governments who can take cuts instead of JSO or the Fire Department. I think they need to re-evaluate where the money comes from," taxpayer Patrick Ramage said.
Belton and his staff have until Oct. 1 to re-balance the budget. He says they'll get it right this time.
"We've taken $70 million out of this budget. We can do another five. We think we can do that in an effective way."
The City Council has the final vote on the budget.
