Mayor Lenny Curry has called the Aug. 30 pension reform referendum a bipartisan solution to a crippling city financial issue.
The political group that isn’t aligned with Curry doesn’t agree.
The Duval Democratic Executive Committee is urging Democrats and all residents of Duval County to vote down Curry’s pension plan, calling it “flawed public policy” that disproportionately impacts low- and middle-income residents while taking on an extra $1.5 billion in debt.
“This is something that should never have become a referendum,” said Neil Henrichsen, chair of the Duval County Democratic Party, during a Tuesday morning news conference.
State Sen. Audrey Gibson and former state Sen. Tony Hill joined him on a vacant lot at Norwood Avenue and Broxton Street, surrounded by forlorn businesses and dilapidated public infrastructure.
Areas like these, said Gibson, were forgotten when it came to the Better Jacksonville Plan half-cent sales tax the pension tax seeks to replace starting in 2031.
“Not one cent will come into your neighborhood,” said Gibson, who said a pension solution that included “shared sacrifice” was better.
Such a plan could mean an increase in property taxes, she said, which isn’t regressive. Curry has staunchly opposed increasing property taxes for pension relief.
There were calls for more discussion on the issue instead of a rush to the ballot box on the proposed plan.
However, Curry said Tuesday afternoon the time for talk was done — the problem has been discussed for years and the plan on the table has bipartisan support. That includes Democratic City Council members, he said.
He said the party’s decision to come out against the plan was “100 percent partisan politics by those individuals.”
“It’s disappointing,” he said of the opposition.
Council member Tommy Hazouri, a Democrat and former mayor, called the decision by the political group “unexpected.”
He said the group doesn’t speak for him on the issue and he would have talked to members about the plan, if he had been invited.
Hazouri is finance chair for the “Yes for Jacksonville” political committee pushing the referendum.
“I thought this was not a Democratic issue,” he said. “I thought it was a city issue.”
On Gibson’s point on spending for neglected areas, Hazouri said without pension relief it wouldn’t matter where someone lived in Jacksonville — there won’t be money to support much of anything.
Although he would have liked some form of a property tax increase to offset rising costs, Hazouri said those dollars can’t be exclusively dedicated like the sales tax can. The group of Democrats, he said, offered no solutions as a substitute.
In addition to the plan itself, Gibson also took issue with promotional fliers claiming she supported the measure.
It lists her and state Rep. Mia Jones as endorsers, but Gibson said Tuesday the two are not and called the tactic a “bait-and-switch” measure.
While the Legislature was reviewing the bill to allow a citywide referendum, Gibson voted yes on three occasions. She said Tuesday those approvals were to allow voters to decide on the proposal.
Susie Wiles, co-chair for Yes for Jacksonville, said Gibson’s votes in Tallahassee showed support and if she changed her mind on the subject, “that’s something different.”
The “last-minute” opposition to the pension tax, Curry said, won’t deter from the mission at hand.
Public support or opposition from any group won’t matter in less than two weeks — just the results will.
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