It’s been more time than money in selling Mayor Lenny Curry’s pension funding solution to legislators, the governor and City Council over the past two months.
Curry’s team selling it to the public will mean more time — and money.
How much? Likely somewhere between $3 million and $4 million, according to Sam Mousa, Curry’s chief administrative officer.
“We’re going to have to sell it like the Better Jacksonville Plan,” Mousa said Monday during a lunch meeting of the Former Council Presidents, a group of past elected and city officials.
Mousa would know the lengths needed. He was Mayor John Delaney’s chief administrative officer when officials made a lengthy effort to pass a half-cent sales tax for infrastructure projects. That passed in 2000.
Mousa said the money would have to come from private sources.
City Council Vice President Lori Boyer was at the meeting and said afterward, although it was the first time she’s heard any figures on the subject, Mousa would know from past experience.
It’s a concept she thinks is needed. “I agree we have to have a true marketing campaign,” she said, describing how officials and advocates need to be on the same page when making the case to the public.
Curry late Monday said there had been no assessment on what it would take to make the case to Jacksonville voters and that the conversation was premature.
“When we get there, we’ll do an assessment and analysis,” said Curry.
It’s an issue that is still a few steps away. First up would be finishing the Senate side of the bill that would extend that half-cent sales tax after the infrastructure tax sunsets in 2030. It would be extended until the city’s $2.7 billion in pension liabilities were 100 percent funded or until 2060, whichever comes first.
The bill would then need Gov. Rick Scott’s approval, which Mousa said Curry and others remain optimistic about. If that happens, it would head back to council, needing approval from a group that already has shown a willingness to support the cause.
Then would come the big voter push.
If it passed on the ballot, likely in November, the city and unions would sit down for collective bargaining. One recent amendment in the state bill calls for employees, including public safety members, to pay at least 10 percent of their salaries toward retirement.
The city pays about $260 million toward its pension plans each year, with $180 million or so of that going toward the unfunded liability.
Whether it would be counting the pledged future sales tax revenue to lower actuarial costs or borrowing and repaying it using the tax, the city could free up millions that could be used for everyday services.
However, Mousa said it’s likely the city wouldn’t see any financial relief from pension reform for another two fiscal years — the one approaching Oct. 1 and the following one in fiscal 2017-18. However, collective bargaining could trim some time from that.
“We’re hopeful,” said Mousa of the timeline.
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