Tax hike recommended as pension solution

[Dog Walker]

Ditto.

Double ditto!

[Bill Hoff]

We get what we pay for.

[Shine]

Related....

This website says Jacksonville residents have the least tax burden of any major city in the US:

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance-2/taxes/5-major-u-s-cities-with-the-lowest-individual-tax-burdens.html/2/

#1 Jacksonville.

This is something to consider but "Jacksonville" is not a typical "city."  Being consolidated with the Duval County, it naturally causes its "city" comparison to look artificially low among other, unconsolidated cities.  Consider this, a Southside suburban home in Jacksonville, pays more in taxes than any similar style home in a suburban area in the four counties adjacent to it.  So, if Jacksonville was not a consolidated government, what used to be "Duval County" would have some of the highest property tax rates of any county in the region.

How this number should be measured – and no one wants to do this – is consider the total local tax burden as a percent of Jacksonville's GDP.  Then, is it growing, stable or decreasing.  Then consider the per capital, inflation adjusted tax and spending levels as a trend over time.  JCCI looked at that measure and the city is collecting and spending more money in real dollars in a period where economic activity was in recession.

I am not saying we will not need to have revenue increases to deal with the pension problem.  I really don't think that can be avoided at this point.  But, we need to stop with all the sugar coating going on this thing and realize this is the price of a massive government failure.  It will hurt the average citizen, it will not be good for economic activity.  And like anything else, it's going to be more painful and cost more to clean up failure then to have done things right in the first place. 

[JayBird]

This is something to consider but "Jacksonville" is not a typical "city."  Being consolidated with the Duval County, it naturally causes its "city" comparison to look artificially low among other, unconsolidated cities. 

Kind of off topic, but we are not always as unique as we might think. Actually I think we will see more consolidations over the next decade to streamline tax benefits. For instance, New Jersey is trying to force their 500 and something municipalities and 21 counties to combine in "shared services" agreements to stop redundancy.

List of Consolidated City-County Governments

According to the National Association of Counties, which maintains a complete list of city-county consolidation proposals since 1805, there are a total of forty. City and county governments can be consolidated in three different forms:

Areas with governments legally designated as city-counties and operating primarily as cities:

Alaska
City and borough of Anchorage
City and borough of Juneau
City and borough of Sitka
City and borough of Yakutat
California
City and county of San Francisco
Colorado
City and county of Broomfield
City and county of Denver
Hawaii
City and county of Honolulu
Kansas
Unified Government of Wyandotte County and City of Kansas City
Montana
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County
Butte-Silver Bow County
Areas designated as metropolitan governments and operating primarily as cities:

Tennessee
Hartsville and Trousdale County
Lynchburg and Moore County
Nashville and Davidson County
Areas having certain types of county offices, but as part of another government (city, township, special district, state):

Florida
County of Duval (City of Jacksonville)
Georgia
County of Clarke (City of Athens)
County of Chattahoochee (City of Cusseta)
County of Echols (City of Statenville)
County of Muscogee (City of Columbus)
County of Richmond (City of Augusta)
County of Quitman (City of Georgetown)
County of Webster (City of Preston)
Hawaii
County of Kalawao (State of Hawaii)
Indiana
County of Marion (City of Indianapolis)
Kansas
County of Greeley (City of Tribune)
Kentucky
Lexington-Fayette Urban County
Louisiana
Parish of East Baton Rouge (City of Baton Rouge)
Parish of Lafayette (City of Lafayette)
Parish of Orleans (City of New Orleans)
Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government
Massachusetts
County of Nantucket (Town of Nantucket)
County of Suffolk (City of Boston)
New York
Counties of Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond (all part of the City of New York)
Pennsylvania
County of Philadelphia (City of Philadelphia)
Source

National Association of Counties. "City-County Consolidation Proposals." City-County Consolidation Proposals."Accessed March 18, 2011.http://www.naco.org/Counties/Documents/CityCountyConsolidationProposals.pdf.