by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
It’s hard to help people who aren’t there.
City Council President Ronnie Fussell created the Seaport-Airport Special Committee to work with the City’s independent agencies to help them find funding for local projects and help get those projects prioritized on state and federal levels. But that can be hard to do when these groups don’t attend meetings.
The Jacksonville Port Authority recently sent an e-mail to members of the committee apologizing for its absence from the Jan. 13 meeting because it was reviewing details of the proposed cruise ship terminal in Mayport. Two meetings later, JTA was a no-show.
“We were pretty clear with them and they said they were going to be here,” said Council member Daniel Davis, committee chair.
Alan Mosley, the City’s chief administrative officer, stepped forward to make the presentation scheduled for the meeting because he has been working with JTA on a transportation improvement program.
“We have been working for the last 60-90 days on a proposal for a fix to the revenue problem with BJP (Better Jacksonville Plan) one and BJP two,” said Mosley. “They are sales tax supported and they have suffered. They are both tied to consumer confidence, which is at an all-time low.”
Funding sources for the current transportation program are primarily developed from the local option gas tax, half cent “tax for tolls” and the half cent BJP sales.
“The model that was originally put together to support the bonding and the cash requirements to support the infrastructure anticipated a growth rate of about five percent,” said Mosley. “That has just not been realized.”
Mosley pointed out that the return from the model has been closer to 3.5 percent. The latest proposal includes requests to extend the local option gas tax from its expiration in 2016 to 2039 and a restructuring of the city’s contribution of sale tax revenue to the JTA for its operations of the mass transit system.
“Right now, there is a gaping hole in the model that represents where the half penny expired in 2016,” said Mosley. “When you extend that local option gas tax, it provides some equilibrium to our model.”
JTA apologized later for its absence which was due to a “communication mix-up,” according to Mike Miller, JTA director of external affairs.
Representatives from the Port Authority were at the meeting to provide an update. It was reported that the Trapac/Mitsui Terminal opened on time and under budget, according to Tim Murphy of the Port Authority. He also reported the terminal is serving about a third of the traffic it was built to handle due to the economy.
The Army Corps of Engineers will open proposals for the deepening of the Talleyrand channel from 38 to 40 feet soon. The Corps will announce its selection in March.
356-2466