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Jax Mayor: Pension debt sales tax is solution "once and for all"

You will now decide whether to continue paying a half-cent sales tax in order to pay down Jacksonville’s $2.7 billion pension debt, but that vote will come as the fiscal impact is still being studied.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry put forward a proposal months ago to initiate a half-cent sales tax specifically to pay the pension debt. The tax would take effect in 2030, upon the expiration of the current half-cent Better Jacksonville Plan sales tax you pay for designated capital projects.

“I’ve laid out a plan to solve this once and for all,” Curry says.

The proposal cleared the State a few weeks back, and got the approval of the City Council Tuesday night. Now, Curry has to make the case to you- it will be on the August ballot.

“Simply asking the voters to approve a half-penny sales tax that they already pay. They pay it today, they’ll pay it tomorrow, and they’ll pay it then, and we can solve this pension issue,” he says.

A question that won’t be answered before you vote, however, is what this proposal would mean until 2030. When Curry initially presented the plan to the City Council, he said there would be tens of millions of dollars in immediate budget relief. He now tells WOKV that they’re still working through how exactly to leverage the money that would be generated in the future.

“Simply by securing a source of revenue to handle this, that could change the annual pension contribution requirement. We won’t know the answer to that until the actuaries have done their work,” he says.

Without a change, Curry says the pension obligation climbs from $260 million this year to $280 million next year, $300 million the following year, and eventually more than $400 million.

“If this half-penny passes, that changes the whole dynamic of the budget cycle and how we can use the existing tax dollars that we have in a positive way,” he says.

The increasing payout to the pension obligation means less funding for police, roadway paving, and other City services as it stands now.

“The tax dollars that they pay in to the City right now are paying for pension,” Curry says.

So while his administration is still working on the finer points of how to most effectively use the money, Curry says it's firm that the money would only be used for the pension obligation, and that this is the best option.

“What’s most important is- regardless of the mechanisms, regardless of immediate or future budget impact- the fact is we have a pension debt that we cannot afford, and the only source of revenue to us that is not a tax increase or a new tax is this half-penny that exists. This is the best way forward,” Curry tells WOKV.

If the proposal is approved by you, the impact is still pending collective bargaining with City unions. Curry says closing out the existing plans is key, because it means this "crisis" will not happen again.

While August is a primary where many races are closed to the political parties involved, this pension sales tax ballot initiative will be open to all voters.

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