JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Florida DOGE report already has city leaders contemplating ways to cut spending and increase accountability in the upcoming city budget.
Members of the Duval DOGE committee were briefed by city auditors on their analysis of the new Florida DOGE report on Tuesday.
There were some discrepancies.
Auditors put the price tag of the so-called HoloDonna at $66,000, not $75,000 as described in the state report.
During that meeting, Duval DOGE Chair Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) announced he’d been informed the airport hologram had been removed as of Monday.
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“I can only imagine that the report came out, it was mentioned and it got picked up,” said Salem.
But the mayor’s office told Action News Jax the timing of the removal of the hologram was coincidental.
“It was always a pilot project for the proto box to be placed at the airport while we tested and debuted the hologram technology. Our six-month agreement with JIA ended on February 1,” a spokesperson with the mayor’s office said in an emailed statement. “The proto box has been returned to the City while we explore additional public education projects for the Public Works Department.”
But the mayor’s office also added, “It was unfair to the airport to be subject to constant hyper-partisan attacks”.
On other spending items highlighted in the state report, auditors found costs were actually higher than the state’s figures.
For example, the state listed city funding for LGBTQ group JASMYN at $27,000, but auditors put the price tag at $90,000.
Salem noted groups like JASMYN receive city dollars through Cultural Council grants and suggested more oversight may be needed.
“Whether that comes back to the council or we set up some guidelines that says you can’t fund these particular areas,” said Salem.
Salem said he was satisfied with the explanations he got from two other organizations identified in the state report as “DEI”.
In letters sent to the committee, the Jacksonville Symphony explained that all of its city funding goes towards musician salaries, while the Cathedral Arts Project said its “Justice Involved Youth” program is privately funded.
But Salem still wants to see other spending concerns fixed, including half a million dollars’ worth of “excessive” overtime.
“We can get into the 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,” said Salem.
Committee member Raul Arias (R-District 11) is also raised concerned about potential future expenditures.
Specifically, a plan to spend $105 million over the next 15 years to convert almost 750 city vehicles to EVs.
“Let’s have further conversations to actually understand what’s happening, because, like I said, this is all brand new to all of us that we found out about a little over an hour ago,” said Arias.
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