Daily Record Financial News &
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 167 • One Section
Will flipping San Marco become reality?
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Clerk says no more personal checks Duval office only one in circuit to take action
Renovation duo John and Whitney Spinks reprised last year’s HGTV success with a new show, this time set in their hometown of Jacksonville. The pilot for “Florida Flippers” aired June 21 and followed the couple as they rehabbed and sold a home in San Marco.
Special to the Daily Record
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Jacksonville couple hopes HGTV picks up pilot By Carole Hawkins Staff Writer When HGTV asked John and Whitney Spinks to reprise last summer’s “Flipping the Block” success, the couple was particularly excited by one part it. The new show would be filmed in their hometown of Jacksonville. The show follows a San Marco flip with potential for an update but a hidden problem in the roof. It follows the usual formula of whether the home will sell without losing money. But this time instead of seasoned pros,
viewers follow the angst of young entrepreneurs struggling to launch their business. The pilot for “Florida Flippers” aired June 21. For those who missed it, HGTV will re-run the episode up to eight times. If it gains traction, Jacksonville’s favorite young-couple-makes-good renovation team could film 12 more episodes and their hometown could have its first reality TV series. John Spinks said he liked the chance to pitch Jacksonville. “Shows like this usually happen in Orlando or Miami,” he said.
With beaches at one end and historic district revitalization at the other, the city made good fodder for TV renovation drama, the couple said. Last summer the couple won hearts as the underdogs on “Flipping the Block,” a show where four teams competed to earn the most money rehabbing and selling identical units in a condo complex. Where other contestants already had their construction-design businesses up and running, the Spinkses had their dreams. Flipping continued on Page A-3
Customers of the Duval County Clerk of Courts will have to adjust their payment preferences beginning Monday, when the clerk no longer will accept personal checks for payment of fees or fines. Public Information Officer Charlie Broward said the change is an “operational decision,” based on the risks and costs associated with accepting personal checks. Broward said the office spends $25,000 per year to process and verify availability of funds for personal check payments, though there is no guarantee the funds will be available when the check is presented to the bank. He also cited costs associated with bank and mailing fees as well as the time spent by staff processing and attempting to collect bounced checks. Broward went on to say that personal checks “have the highest propensity for fraud” and the clerk’s office has very little recourse to recover on personal checks that bounce. The issue is made more significant, Broward said, due to Fussell the type of payments for which personal checks were accepted, such as fees for certified copies of records or payment of traffic fines. Asked to provide the number of personal checks processed by the clerk’s office on a monthly or annual basis, and the percentage of checks that are returned for insufficient funds, Broward said, “We do not have that available on hand.” Other forms of payment, including cash, credit cards, certified checks, cashier’s checks, money orders and checks drawn against a business checking account will continue to be accepted. For credit card payments, a 3.5 percent service charge is assessed by the state vendor, MyFloridaCounty.com. The clerk’s office accepts payments by debit cards that can be run as a credit card, but the office does not accept PIN-based debit card payments. Checks continued on Page A-2
Convention center, Downtown on draft for Curry
It looks as if a convention center might make the cut. Mayor Lenny Curry can expect about a dozen recommendations about where to focus his economic-development efforts, and a “rough draft” list includes the project. “The City needs to develop a plan to develop an expanded or new Convention Center,” says the draft put together by former Mayor John Delaney. Delaney chairs Curry’s economic-development transition subcommittee, which met Monday. He said after the meeting to
Public
expect the final draft of recommendations to include language that the city should create a plan to develop an expanded or new convention center. “It needs to move up the priority list,” he said. He also repeated what he has said in previous meetings: Finding $200 million to $500 million to pay for a center will be the issue. Another top priority will be the urban core. “A solid Downtown needs to be a major focus,” Delaney said. The subcommittee reviewed Delaney’s two-page list of recom-
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mendations, titled “rough draft/ outline,” culled from previous meetings. The draft also includes recommendations to: • Retain former Mayor Alvin Brown’s economic-development structure: Office of Economic Development; the independent Downtown Investment Author-
ity; the mayor’s Office of Sports and Entertainment, which works with the nonprofit Jacksonville Sports Council; and the private JAX Chamber. “It appears that all of the four entities cooperate and work well together,” it said. • Develop a “progressive” matrix so that the city can score the value of deals seeking economic-development incentives and also create an ongoing way to measure the results. • Focus efforts on improving low wages, and also on neighborhoods in decline or transition. • Consider several public-
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investment policy models to best address opportunities. For example taxpayer-assisted projects in the targeted areas of Downtown and Northwest Jacksonville can pay lower wages and produce a lower return-on-investment “due to the positive community or sociological impact.” In other areas, some projects might bring a high capital investment but few jobs. Other projects, such as at Cecil Commerce Center, could bring long-term investment. Delaney noted that subjectivity and flexibility would be beneficial Mathis continued on Page A-2
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