Jacksonville faces challenge in Legislature for septic tank money

Jacksonville is facing a rise in state law for money that would help the city fulfill a 2016 promise to turn the page on septic tanks in three northwestern boroughs of Jacksonville.

The city requested $ 6 million from the Legislature, but it looks like the House version of the budget for next year has nothing for Jacksonville to clear septic tanks, and the Senate version only has $ 250,000.

However, as long as the Senate has the money in its version, the project will stay alive if the House and Senate leaders negotiate a final budget later in session.

“The good news is that if it makes that final cut (in the Senate) there is a chance.” said State Senator Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, who sponsored the Jacksonville inquiry on the Senate side.

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Mayor Lenny Curry and some city council members said the city must finally address the high cost of expanding the JEA sewers to areas that have relied on septic tanks for decades. Curry has spoken out in favor of building hundreds of millions of dollars in sewerage for this purpose.

The first phase would be to fully fund the sewage service for three neighborhoods – Biltmore, Christobel and Beverly Hills. The city promised in 2016 would be converted from decades of use of septic tanks.

The city council unanimously voted on March 23 to allocate $ 14.4 million in new city funding and $ 12.5 million from JEA to the canal construction projects, which will cost more than original estimates. The third leg of the finance stool would be $ 6 million from the state.

JEA is already doing the job in the Biltmore neighborhood and would drive next to Christobel and then to Beverly Hills.

Curry has said that one way or another the city will get enough money to travel to all three boroughs.

“We will definitely complete these projects,” he said in February when he announced the plan for the additional spending with JEA. “That’s a fact. It will happen.”

He has personally met with state lawmakers about the city’s funding request and will continue to do so, according to the mayor’s office.

Getting the full $ 6 million from the state in next year’s budget will be a huge challenge.

Bean, who is temporarily president of the Senate, said that on a scale of zero to ten, with ten being the greatest chance of government funding, “the chance it’ll go away at $ 6 million is probably one. The chance that.” it goes away. ” with a little money is a 6. “

“I think the Jacksonville project is scalable, which means they’ll make the most of whatever is available,” said Bean.

He said lawmakers became more aware of the environmental risks posed by aging septic tanks.

“It’s gaining momentum and more people are buying in what’s in our favor,” he said.

On the house side, a new rule for this session was that for a member-sponsored project that makes it into the house version of the budget, the dollar amount must be at least 50 percent of the amount originally requested.

Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, said the rule is aimed at stopping cases where lawmakers have inflated requests many times beyond what they actually needed for a project.

In the case of Jacksonville’s motion, the new rule meant that the legislature that made the budget for the House should have paid at least $ 3 million for what would have been a large sum for a single project, Duggan said.

He said the rule does not apply to the final budget, which was negotiated in a House-Senate conference to make Jacksonville more flexible.

He said that as long as the Senate has money for Jacksonville in its budget, “it means they want to keep it in play for conference calling.”

The Senate’s proposed budget includes dozens of water projects across the country. These include $ 250,000 for Atlantic Beach for flood control in Hopkins Creek, $ 250,000 for rainwater improvement in downtown Fernandina Beach, $ 250,000 for draining American Beach wells and septic tanks in Nassau County and $ 250,000 for septic tank exit in Jacksonville.

The proposed budget for the home is $ 250,000 for Hopkins Creek, $ 600,000 for American Beach, $ 150,000 in St. Augustine for a septic tank sewer program in West Augustine, and $ 347,000 in beach resilience in St. Augustine Beach for the Ocean Walk subdivision .

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