Peyton: 14 percent tax hike might be needed

[reednavy]

Of course we have the advantage over those cities that we're not built out, not in the Rust Belt, and that we're still in a desireable location, no matter what some think.

[Ocklawaha]

Yeah, hell lets make it an even 25% and go for a full featured SUBWAY! MTrain and I will design it.

LOL

OCKLAWAHA

[stjr]

As expected, a lot of emotional reaction on this thread.  Unfortunately, this is the wrong way to react.  Budgeting should be a rational process in which all sources of revenue and all items of expense are thoughtfully analyzed and justified. 

A good budget does not guarantee perfection as many people are involved in securing revenue or spending money and, even with the best of checks and balances, bad decisions can slip through.  So, the fact that we can find a few dollars here or there in a massive City budget does not mean the entire budget is inappropriate.  Rather, these examples should be used to further tighten and enhance budget controls going forward.

Many of the comments here also drag in the independent entities (Port, Airport, JEA, School Board) that are not controlled by the City or its budget.  These agencies have their own issues and deserve close scrutiny in another forum apart from the City.

We need to remember we are a community that sinks or swims together.  We can not advocate only for those things that directly impact our own lives and ignore the fact that many things that are less direct have a major impact on us as well.  This calls for big picture thinking - a vision that elevates the entire community ("a rising tide lifts all boats"), not just our own pet peeves.  Metrojax supposedly represents an attempt to look at this bigger view of Jacksonville.  Many of these posts belie this assumption.

I am not for or against a tax increase and am not commenting on the best way to win people over.  I want to do what is best for our community as a whole and as efficiently as possible.  If we are at a point where that means we need to reconsider our level of investment, then kudos to the Mayor for putting it out there for debate and discussion.  Let's see what the justification is and whether it makes sense or just represents a special agenda (Nelson Cuda was on TV last night already advocating that the additional revenue should go first to public safety, i.e. my translation, more for higher police and fire salaries and pension payments.)

It does little good to shoot the messenger, even if he is less than perfect in his presentation.  Flying bullets just stifle discussion that is necessary and prudent to have and is too often absent in our community for this very reason.  Let's focus on the real issues of our community and whether we are under-investing in it or not.

I have balanced many business, organizational, and personal budgets, and it does take money to live.  We all need to prioritize and to realize we can't have it all.  I am sure each of us could find some slack in our own personal budgets that would more than offset much of what is asked from us to support our community at a sustainable level.  But, are we willing to make the same tough decisions for ourselves that we ask of others?  From my experience, not many of us are.  We usually prefer self gratification over the common good.

Keeping an open mind and holding on to my common sense....

[Ocklawaha]

Damn Stjr, does this mean I won't get a Subway? Okay, I'll settle for a finished Skyway and 100 miles of streetcar!

OCKLAWAHA

[hightowerlover]

i guess you could always just move to another cookie cutter town

[tufsu1]

very well said stjr!

[Keith-N-Jax]

Again I dont trust this city's leadership as far as I can throw a taxed penny!!!!

[mtraininjax]

Many of the comments here also drag in the independent entities (Port, Airport, JEA, School Board) that are not controlled by the City or its budget.  These agencies have their own issues and deserve close scrutiny in another forum apart from the City.

I don't see the JEA budget process that way. JEA sends the City money each year, since the City owns them. Does JEA have its own budget process and own purchasing and basically duplication of every AP/HR/AR office, yes, there is duplication. But the City's Stormwater fee, who does it really benefit? It benefits JEA. JAA, JTA, JPA, School Board, I agree with you, but JEA is a lot closer to the City.

[Lunican]

Email from Peyton:

Dear Friends: 

We have so much to be proud of in our city. Jacksonville has the largest urban park system in the country and one of the nation’s greatest natural resources running through the center of our downtown. Our seaport is the American gateway for automobiles, lumber, paper, steel and consumer products, and our city is home to more than 50,000 military men and women who serve and protect our nation each day.

However, due to cuts from Tallahassee, combined with the global economic crisis and an unsustainable pension system, our city is facing a severe budget crisis. Although we are not at risk of bankruptcy, the needs of this city are greater than its available revenue. To address our city’s financial crisis and ensure that critical services remain intact, I plan to propose significant cuts to the budget, important pension reforms and a modest increase in property taxes.

First, at my direction, the city’s budget and management teams have identified $40 million in additional cuts for the upcoming budget. These cuts include a 5 percent across-the-board budget cut in all non-public safety departments and the elimination of more than 100 positions.

In addition, we will take to the collective bargaining table an aggressive pension reform plan. We can no longer continue to promise something no one else in this country gets. Six years ago, our annual pension obligation was $40 million. Next year, it will be $110 million. Ten years from now, the pension obligation will be $260 million. Maintaining this exponentially increasing system is just not an option.

Next month, I will propose a series of reforms that will be fair, competitive and sustainable. Key elements of pension reform could include modifying the 8.4 percent DROP guarantee, the retirement age and years of service criteria, employee contribution rate, cost of living implementation and other issues.

Even after these cuts, filling the gap will require an additional $60 million. Our first option is to make unsustainable cuts resulting in the elimination of fundamental government services like fire stations, community centers, libraries and senior centers; all public service and cultural grants, including funding for children’s programs; recycling efforts; and iconic institutions like the Sulzbacher Center and the Ritz Theatre. The second option is to make the investments needed to keep this city running.

Next month, I will propose to City Council a millage rate increase of approximately 1.2 mils. This decision was difficult, and was not made hastily. This increase will be finalized upon receipt of the July 1 tax roll from the property appraiser and would likely take the property tax rate to approximately what it was prior to Tallahassee’s micromanagement of our local budget. The increase will cost the average homeowner in Jacksonville approximately $115 more next year. And, that $115 will save Jacksonville from financial ruin.

Addressing budgetary issues will require leadership, broad support and the roll-up-our-sleeves attitude that has defined Jacksonville’s history. I need your help convincing fellow community members and our 19 Jacksonville City Council members that my upcoming budget proposal is the best plan for our city’s future.

We must FIX IT NOW! If we don’t, it will take more than a decade to get back to where we need to be, even if an economic boom were to start again tomorrow. To turn conversation into action, we must challenge every citizen and elected official with these two questions. First, will you pay $115 more next year in property taxes or do you support cutting all the programs and services that make this city great?

If you answered yes to investing in Jacksonville’s future, or want to learn more about the city’s budget, please visit www.FixItNow.cc.  Join the effort to make Jacksonville the greatest place to live, work and raise a family.

Sincerely,

John Peyton

Mayor

[hanjin1]

Dear Friends:   


We have so much to be proud of in our city. Jacksonville has the largest urban park system in the country and one of the nation’s greatest natural resources running through the center of our downtown. Our seaport is the American gateway for automobiles, lumber, paper, steel and consumer products, and our city is home to more than 50,000 military men and women who serve and protect our nation each day.

However, due to cuts from Tallahassee, combined with the global economic crisis and an unsustainable pension system, our city is facing a severe budget crisis. Although we are not at risk of bankruptcy, the needs of this city are greater than its available revenue. To address our city’s financial crisis and ensure that critical services remain intact, I plan to propose significant cuts to the budget, important pension reforms and a modest increase in property taxes.

First, at my direction, the city’s budget and management teams have identified $40 million in additional cuts for the upcoming budget. These cuts include a 5 percent across-the-board budget cut in all non-public safety departments and the elimination of more than 100 positions.

In addition, we will take to the collective bargaining table an aggressive pension reform plan. We can no longer continue to promise something no one else in this country gets. Six years ago, our annual pension obligation was $40 million. Next year, it will be $110 million. Ten years from now, the pension obligation will be $260 million. Maintaining this exponentially increasing system is just not an option.

Next month, I will propose a series of reforms that will be fair, competitive and sustainable. Key elements of pension reform could include modifying the 8.4 percent DROP guarantee, the retirement age and years of service criteria, employee contribution rate, cost of living implementation and other issues.


Even after these cuts, filling the gap will require an additional $60 million. Our first option is to make unsustainable cuts resulting in the elimination of fundamental government services like fire stations, community centers, libraries and senior centers; all public service and cultural grants, including funding for children’s programs; recycling efforts; and iconic institutions like the Sulzbacher Center and the Ritz Theatre. The second option is to make the investments needed to keep this city running.

Next month, I will propose to City Council a millage rate increase of approximately 1.2 mils. This decision was difficult, and was not made hastily. This increase will be finalized upon receipt of the July 1 tax roll from the property appraiser and would likely take the property tax rate to approximately what it was prior to Tallahassee’s micromanagement of our local budget. The increase will cost the average homeowner in Jacksonville approximately $115 more next year. And, that $115 will save Jacksonville from financial ruin.

Addressing budgetary issues will require leadership, broad support and the roll-up-our-sleeves attitude that has defined Jacksonville’s history. I need your help convincing fellow community members and our 19 Jacksonville City Council members that my upcoming budget proposal is the best plan for our city’s future. 

We must FIX IT NOW! If we don’t, it will take more than a decade to get back to where we need to be, even if an economic boom were to start again tomorrow. To turn conversation into action, we must challenge every citizen and elected official with these two questions. First, will you pay $115 more next year in property taxes or do you support cutting all the programs and services that make this city great?

If you answered yes to investing in Jacksonville’s future, or want to learn more about the city’s budget, please visit www.FixItNow.cc.  Join the effort to make Jacksonville the greatest place to live, work and raise a family.


Sincerely,

John Peyton

Mayor

[Ocklawaha]

Tell you what your honor, John you KNOW I'm very loud... I'll lead your campaign for this tax hike if we add in a couple of % AND go for being the most transit savvy city this side of San Francisco, Medellin or New York. Finish the Skyway and start laying streetcar tracks, and we'll lead the Southeast in pulling together Amtrak DOWNTOWN. GO FOR IT. I'm sick of us being considered a backwater village when we are really one of the BIG DOGS.

OCKLAWAHA

[JMac]

Sell the main library.  This will plug the budget gap, increase the tax base and remove a home base for bums.

[thelakelander]

So from the letter it appears the increase will only save whats in place today.  Imo, if taxes have to increase, why not go from the suggested $115 to $125 or $130 so we could actually fund something that could enhance Jacksonville's quality of life?

[JaxNative68]

That all can be traced back to the city leaders who annexed the City of Jacksonville to Duval County in order to avoid integration back in 1968.  Racism never wins out in the long run.  Can we all just learn to get along?

[tufsu1]

So from the letter it appears the increase will only save whats in place today.  Imo, if taxes have to increase, why not go from the suggested $115 to $125 or $130 so we could actually fund something that could enhance Jacksonville's quality of life?

I agree Lake...but it gets back to Peyton's pledge of "no new taxes"...what he's doing is puitting back what the State took away through Amendment 1 a few years ago