by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Mayor John Peyton announced Monday that the half-cent sales tax implemented as a result of the passage of the Better Jacksonville Plan in 2000 isn’t producing the expected revenues. However, Peyton and his finance team have decided to forge ahead with $100 million in new roadway construction, much of which is based on the needs of the Jacksonville Port Authority as it continues to grow. That growth is based on the new Mitsui cargo terminal that will open next month and the Hanjin terminal that will open in 2012.
According to the mayor’s office, revenues from the BJP half-cent sales tax and another half-cent tax that was enacted in 1988 and resulted in the elimination of toll roads in Duval County were both below projections in fiscal years 2007 and 2008. That revenue is also down just two months into the current fiscal year and the mayor’s office predicts it could end up $30 million below projections for the year.
In order to continue funding the current and proposed roadway projects, Peyton will ask City Council to extend the Local Option Gasoline Tax past its 2016 expiration date. That extension would not increase the tax, but rather extend the time frame during which gasoline is taxed at 6 cents on the gallon.
Peyton will also ask Council and the JTA board to reset the City’s subsidy to JTA. That subsidy was approved by voters in 1988 and increases 6.5 percent annually. Peyton’s proposal doesn’t eliminate the subsidy. Instead, he’s asking for the subsidy to be based on sales tax generated.
If Council approves both plans, it will immediately generate $50 million the City can use on BJP roadway projects.
Peyton said the country has seen “phenomenal circumstances” occur in the past year, all of which have contributed to a sagging economy. He cited 500,000 people now looking for jobs, a major drop in retail sales, the wildly fluctuating stock market and a struggling auto industry.
“It is clear consumers are really battening down the hatches,” said Peyton, adding the BJP was bold and visionary. “I cannot imagine this city without it. Twenty-two of 23 vertical projects are complete.”
Peyton said the key locally is not to go into “survivalist thinking or paralysis” but to keep looking at creative, legitimate ways to finance the scheduled projects and the $100 million worth of road and infrastructure improvements on Heckscher Drive that will be necessary when there are 2.4 million containers being offloaded annually in a few years.
“This does not propose to cancel any projects in the Better Jacksonville Plan, but it does extend the timetable,” said Peyton.
Currently, there are $228 million worth of road projects underway and another $22 million in the design phase. Peyton said he will also ask the City’s procurement department to hire as many local contractors and subcontractors as possible in an effort to keep the money and jobs in Jacksonville. He also said the new County Courthouse will be built, a project that could see upwards of 2,000-3,000 people working on it over the course of its construction.
“We need to get government off the river and build a new Courthouse. The current building is dilapidated,” he said.
City Council President Ronnie Fussell supports the plan and said he’s been working with the mayor’s office on it for a month.
“We can’t stop. We may have to change course or slow down, but we can’t stop,” said Fussell. “This is an opportunity for us to keep things moving when the rest of the country is stopping.”
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