After putting the city’s annual contribution to the JaxUSA Partnership on hold during the budget process, the Jacksonville City Council voted almost unanimously this week to approve the $750,000 to help pay to market the city to domestic and global companies.
The 18-1 vote to provide funding to the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce’s economic development division is not unusual historically. But council’s move to ask JaxUSA for additional documentation in the form of receipts to show more precisely how it spends the money before greenlighting the appropriation is a new precedent.
The council’s OK came about a week after a delegation of chamber and city officials returned from London on an economic development trip where, among other talks, they held meetings on the Jax Hub financial technology partnership with the global corporate innovation firm LMarks.
The budget discussion
The city’s contribution to JaxUSA was set aside, or “put below the line,” when council approved the $2 billion operating budget in September…