Almost bookended by Mayor Alvin Brown and City Council President Bill Gulliford, more than 20 people took the opportunity Tuesday to talk about the city's pension situation and the work of a task force charged with helping solve the massive problem.
The forum was part of a series of meetings of the Jacksonville Retirement Reform Task Force, which is being aided by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Brown led off and advocated selling some city-owned properties to reduce the unfunded liability, a $1.7 billion deficit in the police and fire pension fund. The idea of transferring real estate to the fund has been discussed, but Brown said he "has concerns" about doing so.
The city is conducting an analysis as to how to use real estate assets. Once any real estate is sold, the proceeds could be applied to the liability and the property would generate property taxes.
He also said he has told members of his administration to talk with the independent authorities, specifically mentioning JEA, to address the unfunded liability. JEA annually provides millions to city coffers, with this year's contribution well over $200 million.
Questioning the guaranteed rate of rate return for current employees and reviewing the governance structure of the fund also were issues Brown discussed.
At the back end of the three-hour session, Gulliford said using JEA contributions and not a dedicated portion of the millage to address the unfunded liability was an idea to explore.
His reasoning was that the JEA contribution could be fixed, while millage revenue each year fluctuates.
And, it shouldn't all be about the police and fire fund, he said.
Combined with the general employees' fund, Gulliford said the city's total unfunded liability was closer to $2.4 billion and all of it needed to be addressed.
As for governance structure of the fund, which many speakers discussed, Gulliford said he again has filed a local bill to alter the five-member board's makeup.
If it passes, the fifth member of the board would be selected by the city instead of being voted on by the other four members.
John Winkler, Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County president, took it a step further and called for the board to be entirely dissolved.
Winkler has advocated the stance before, saying the city could manage the fund better.
John Keane, fund administrator, also used the opportunity to share his concerns.
He called some of Pew's findings "not exactly correct" and said the 13-year window the organization examined covered two tumultuous economic periods that lowered investment returns across the U.S.
As he has in the past, Keane pushed for laxer restrictions on rules that would allow the fund to diversify its investments.
All of the input will be examined over the next month, leading to the Dec. 5 task force meeting.
"Now is the time to start getting our hands dirty," said Bill Scheu, task force chairman, said at the conclusion of Tuesday's meeting.
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