This week's poll dives more into some of the most important and controversial issues his administration has tackled since he took office in July 2011. For example, Dr. Binder says he thinks citizens know that something has to be done about the pension and want something done about it, but they just don't like the way the Mayor wants to do it.
Participants were also asked a couple of questions related to the pension plan. According to the poll, "The public also opposes (56 percent) a small increase in property taxes dedicated to reducing the pension obligation. Three proposals to reduce the pension obligation that do have community support include requiring current (62 percent) and future employees (70 percent) to pay more into the pension system. There is also tepid support for requiring future public safety employees to work longer until they become eligible to receive pension benefits (51 percent)."
Mayor Brown's spokesman sent a statement in response to the poll, saying the language does not describe the Mayor's proposal. Spokesman David DeCamp says Brown's proposal would not require JEA to do something in exchange for nothing.
Instead, he has suggested a partnership in which JEA would make an increased contribution to the City of Jacksonville for a limited period of time, and in exchange the City would help JEA find savings and revenue opportunities to offset the increased contribution.