Staff Writer
Calling for the need for continued investment while cutting employee and operational costs, Mayor John Peyton on Wednesday proposed a $995 million budget to City Council.
The budget is Peyton’s eighth and final as he completes his second term.
Peyton proposes a 9 percent raise in the millage rate to 10.12 mills, which he said was revenue neutral.
In proposing the property-tax rate increase, he said the recession caused a 7 percent reduction in the city’s tax base. “Translated this will have a $45 million negative impact to our general fund,” said Peyton.
The millage increase would plug that gap, he said. Without it, he said, the city would face “Draconian” cuts.
In addition, Peyton said it was the first proposed budget since consolidation in which every executive department budget, including public safety, is lower than the previous year.
Peyton opened his presentation by listing the city’s achievements to the packed City Council chambers. Business, community, nonprofit, public safety, civic leaders and citizens filled the room.
Peyton commended economic progress through government partnerships that resulted in more than 80 job-creating businesses relocating or expanding in the region since 2003.
“While government doesn’t create jobs and businesses, it can provide the climate for them to prosper,” he said. “And our efforts are working.”
He talked about the recent approval of a master developer, Hillwood, for Cecil Commerce Center, and he stressed that deepening the St. Johns River shipping channel to ensure post-Panamax port competitiveness would be a priority.
The audience applauded when he said the Jacksonville Jaguars sold more than 12,000 new season tickets, 11,000 more than a year ago, in a drive to sell enough tickets to avoid TV blackouts. Peyton called continued team support a “simple business equation” and a “good long-term investment” from both a community and economic standpoint.
Peyton lauded work to improve both the park system and the health and access to the St. Johns River, saying that such investment would “attract the kind of jobs that will raise our per capita income.”
Within the budget, Peyton said $16.7 million was allocated to stormwater projects in addition to $2 million for technologies and $2 million for the state and federal mandates of phasing out septic tanks near the river.
In line with economic development and investment, Peyton also discussed the need to improve Downtown and public spaces to attract both business and people. He specifically mentioned ongoing improvements to Friendship Fountain, the Southbank Riverwalk, Metropolitan Park and Bay and Laura streets.
Peyton opened with the good news, and then moved into the issues.
He said pension reform was key to managing long-term costs, but that it “is easier said than done.” He specifically thanked fire union leadership for working toward a solution, while also asking leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police to heed Council member Stephen Joost’s request for unions to become “part of the solution versus the defenders of the status quo.”
“It is unreasonable to expect that union membership will be held harmless while taxpayers are being asked to pay more and city employees are asked to do more with less,” said Peyton. “It is only fair that we all share the burden.”
Peyton said city employees have taken pay cuts and are paying a portion of their health care costs. He said he has eliminated more than 700 positions from city government since 2006.
Council members will now pore through Peyton’s proposed budget. The Council Finance Committee, led by former Council President Daniel Davis, will begin budget hearings Aug. 12. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1 with an approved budget in place.
Council President Jack Webb said he couldn’t anticipate how the committee would receive Peyton’s proposed millage rate, but said he wasn’t surprised by the number.
“Property values are decreasing and in order to hold revenues flat, that’s basic algebra,” said Webb.
Webb said he thought the presentation was “great and a sense of a swan song” highlighted by enthusiasm and optimism.
He couldn’t predict Council and constituent reaction to the budget.
“We are called upon every day to run government like a business,” he said. “Many people say that means ‘cut, cut, cut,’ but those cuts have real impact on real people. Ultimately, you can’t have it both ways.”
Webb said the budget will be a balancing act.
“We don’t have many options. We just have to engage in the vetting of the budget and see where it goes from there,” he said.
City Council Finance Committee Budget Hearings schedule
There are currently three days allotted for the Finance Committee to review the budget. They include:
Aug. 12: 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m., one-hour break noon– 1 p.m.
Aug: 19 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m., one-hour break noon– 1 p.m.
Aug. 26: 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m., one-hour break noon– 1 p.m.
356-2466