by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Before a crowd of community and business leaders, Mayor John Peyton publicly moved forward with a three-part plan to help curb the City’s financial situation that, he said, would help stabilize finances and continue community investment while avoiding future and painful public cuts.
As part of the revenue increase portion of his plan Peyton announced he will propose a 1.2 mills property tax increase to City Council July 13 as part of his submitted budget. The increase – the first such increase in Duval County in 17 years – would bring the rate from 8.48 to 9.69 mills and would effectively return the revenue rate to a time “before Tallahassee began meddling with tax reform” and pre-Amendment 1 passage, he said.
Additionally, the increase would amount to around $115 more per property owner 0and would result in the amount “needed to balance this budget,” said Peyton.
The final millage proposal will be based on the July 1 tax roll submitted by the property appraiser.
There are two other parts of Peyton’s “Fix It Now” campaign.
In addition to revenue increases, the second part calls for cuts to the City’s operating budget amounting to $40 million, which includes a 5 percent across-the-board cut in all nonpublic safety departments, pay freezes for City employees and unpaid furloughs for all non-public safety employees.
The third part of Peyton’s proposal deals with pension reform. The current unfunded liability of the pension plan is $1.2 billion and the exponential financial obligation from the City in future years would “engulf all other expenditures,” said Peyton. His recommendations included increasing the retirement age from 20 to 25 years of service, modifying the current 8.4 percent Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) and adjusting the employee contribution rate.
Without the increased revenues portion of his plan, warned Peyton, cuts could amount to $100 million next year and require even more drastic adjustments to public services and quality of life enhancements.
Highly visible examples included closing two fire stations, five libraries, 10 community and senior centers, the Jacksonville Equestrian Center, eliminating the City’s recycling program, closing the Ritz Theater and LaVilla Museum and reducing children’s programs.
With two years left in his term as mayor, Peyton said he wasn’t counting the days until he was out of office, but instead counting the days he had left to accomplish things for the City. He cited the recent Jacksonville Community Council Inc. “Our Money, Our City: Financing Jacksonville’s Future” study that highlighted the City’s “financial crisis” and said it proved the actions he’s proposing are in the best interest of citizens.
“From where I sit, we’ve all come to the same conclusion,” said Peyton. “This is the right thing to do for our city.”
J.F. Bryan IV chaired the JCCI study and attended Peyton’s conference. He said “timing is everything” in relation to Peyton’s proposal when compared with the study’s findings, which took eight months of research.
Bryan was encouraged by Peyton’s initiative in tackling the issue of potentially unpopular revenue increases coupled with a down economy.
“It takes great political courage to make a proposal like that,” said Bryan. “Like the study showed, though, we are in a crisis.”
Council members John Crescimbeni and Reggie Brown also attended the press conference for a preview of what they’ll hear in full next month when Peyton presents the 2009-10 City budget to all 19 Council members.
“The numbers keep changing,” said Crescimbeni, of his initial reaction. “Obviously, our expenses need to be shortened.”
For now, Crescimbeni said he’ll take a wait-and-see approach.
“I’ll know more on the 13th,” he said.
Peyton encouraged people to voice their opinions on the issue to their Council members and has set up a Web site detailing his plan. For more information on his plan, go to www.fixitnow.cc.
356-2466