With a project list coming closer to being finalized, debate on extending the 6-cent gas tax could soon hit a green light.
City Council President Bill Gulliford met with several of his colleagues Monday to review a draft list of 31 projects totaling $253 million that could start to be funded by extending the tax another 20 years, starting in 2016.
But, only the first 15 on the prioritized list could be funded if the Jacksonville Transportation Authority issues bonds for about $100 million, should the gas-tax extension pass.
JTA and city Public Works officials have spent the past several weeks ranking projects to determine which should have the highest priority.
Heading that list is a $600,000 project at the intersection of Old St. Augustine and Greenland roads. The priciest would be reconstructing lanes on Kernan Boulevard from Atlantic Boulevard to McCormick Road that has a price tag of $16.7 million.
Completing that list is key to debate likely to start in the coming weeks, after Gulliford and others meet April 3 to finalize the list.
Gulliford has led the drive to extend the tax, after filing a bill in December, with the revenue split multiple ways to fund the JTA, city roads and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
In addition to the 31-project list brought forward Monday, a bicycle and pedestrian group provided a list for $6 million in improvements.
As proposed, the funding breakdown would mean 5 cents for JTA and the remaining cent going to the city. The city’s annual share is estimated to be $5 million, with an 80-20 split between road projects and bike and pedestrian funding
Council member Lori Boyer suggested the city’s annual portion, after bike and pedestrian funding, wasn’t enough to cover needed improvements and maintenance.
Gulliford said some funding is better than none and that he is “adamantly opposed” to using general fund dollars for such projects.
“If you don’t stay ahead of that curve on construction projects, then you end up trying to play catch-up,” he said, “and, you never can catch up once you’re behind, I don’t think.”
Last year, council put $4 million back into the budget to cover road resurfacing after Mayor Alvin Brown’s budget did not include any such projects.
Brown has said multiple times he is against the gas tax being reissued, calling it an unsustainable funding source that relies on a modeling using a declining revenue source. Brown is against tax or fee increases.
As for a Plan B, council member Warren Jones asked how Brown would fund mass transportation should the tax not pass. Council liaison Margo Klosterman said those conversations have taken place, but she was not a part of them.
“We need proper planning … we need direction,” Jones said.
David DeCamp, Brown’s spokesman, said the administration is “more than willing” to have that conversation with council, but have asked why the rush to judgment about an unsustainable funding source. Instead, he said, alternatives about the mass transportation need to be discussed.
Gulliford said he hoped to hear an update on that stance when the group next meets.
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Here’s a breakdown of the 15 projects tentatively slated to be pursued with the $100 million-plus that could be generated from a 6-cent local gas tax extension. The funds would cover about the first 15 of 31 projects presented by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.