Millage, local politics at forefront of JCCI ‘Lunch and Learn’ event
07/30/2009 by David Chapman Staff Writer The actions and reactions from Tuesday night’s City Council vote on the millage rate and Wednesday morning’s reaction might have been strongly felt in-and-around City Hall Wednesday, but it was hardly the only place. Several miles away, a packed house of Jacksonville Community Council Inc. members and community members filled JCCI’s conference room for its monthly “Lunch and Learn” program, where they heard from recent “Our Money, Our City: Financing Jacksonville’s Future” study chair J.F. Bryan IV on the study itself and recommendation implementation status. The study has been influential in conversations regarding the City’s budget and what type of city the community expects, and one of the main recommendations in the study — forming public trust between a government and its people — was not on display Tuesday evening, said Bryan.“Last night indicated trust was not restored,” said Bryan. Additionally, one of the main points of emphasis in the study’s recommendations, increasing revenues and/or reducing expenditures, wasn’t exactly carried forth. The first potential revenue increase suggested by the study called for a millage increase, which Mayor John Peyton proposed — from 8.48 to 9.5 mils — but Council denied by capping it at its current rate with an amendment. Subsequently, Peyton vetoed Council’s rejection of the rate increase Wednesday, which means the new rollback rate that keeps it consistent with the previous year is now at 9.27. The difference between the two, an estimated $12 million, still leaves cuts that could affect the quality of life factors for Jacksonville. “It goes hand-in-hand with where we want to go as city,” said Jacksonville Transportation Authority spokesman Mike Miller. “It’s about presenting a vision.” Bryan said a recommended millage increase, though, was just one of the study’s points, as he also noted items like development fees, tolls and other resources that haven’t been utilized to help secure the City’s long term financial fu-ture. “It should be interesting,” said Bryan, of the future budgetary actions. Still, some attendees weren’t enthused by the way things went Tuesday evening. “We have a history of not thinking in the long term,” said Cleve Warren, former JTA board chair. “Quite frankly, last night was shortsighted.” Pushing forward with its goal of community discussion and implementation, Bryan announced four subcommittees that will focus on four distinct aspects of the study: pension plans, public trust, the immediate budgetary crisis and future visioning of the City. Each will be headed by a JCCI mem- ber who took part in the study and will meet at different intervals. While discussion kept referring back to the recent millage hot topic, Bryan noted that next year’s property tax assessment could potentially be even worse, as residential values continue to decline combined with a decline in commercial values. This year, those commercial values didn’t decline because of the impact of the Jacksonville Port Authority, he said, but next year could be a different story. “It’s a prelude,” said Bryan. “Next year, it’s (property values and resulting tax shortfall) going to be much worse.” dchapman@baileypub.com 356-2466
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