QuoteMayor wants to end local gas tax, but City Council members say they want to consider extending it
Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown and the City Council have already split dramatically on property taxes.
Next, they could go different ways on gas taxes.
Brown favors ending the local 6-cent-per-gallon gas tax when it expires in August 2016.
But City Council President Bill Gulliford and some council members say they want to assess whether the city should extend the tax, which generates $27 million a year for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-08-03/story/mayor-wants-end-local-gas-tax-city-council-members-say-they-want#ixzz2ayEbp3og
Hmm, the case of the council trying to keep a balanced budget and a Mayor trying to get re-elected often do not mix well do they?
Brown is pathetic.
I'm okay letting the gas tax end if it is replaced by either a sales tax or property tax increase. Other counties, like Pinellas, are considering similar trade-offs. Similar to state and federal budget concerns, our local gas tax revenues are not sustainable as cars become more efficient and higher gas prices yield to less driving.
I'm not a huge fan of this tax, but Councilman Gulliford pointed out that it does allow us to pass some of road costs in Duval onto workers from Clay and St Johns who use our infrastructure. That wouldn't be possible through property tax.
It is all very nice for the Mayor to say there needs to be an alternative funding source (he is correct), but he will never propose or endorse anything like that, because it could be perceived as a "tax increase" - and Oh No! We can't have that! Never mind that our infrastructure is going to hell. Can JTA pay for their BRT plans (increased service levels, as well as the capital side) without the gas tax? Will that affect their Federal grant applications?
They could if they do what the billboard companies have been doing the last 20 years here. Improve certain high frequency corridors at the expense of eliminating a couple of under performing routes. However, regardless of JTA, the gas tax should remain. Short of putting toll booths up for non-Duval County residents, it's one of a few ways to collect income from the large population across the border leaching off of it.
What do we need revenue for anyways?
Quote from: Tacachale on August 04, 2013, 10:18:00 AM
I'm not a huge fan of this tax, but Councilman Gulliford pointed out that it does allow us to pass some of road costs in Duval onto workers from Clay and St Johns who use our infrastructure. That wouldn't be possible through property tax.
Sounds like a plan if you can assume a large enough segment of the commuting public purchase fuel or goods to be taxed. I don't know. Perhaps that is the trend. I would be more likely to buy close to home if I were commuting to another county.
You'd benefit from more than just commuters. Visiting tourist, business travelers, people using us as a gas stop on their way to Central & South Florida, etc., also pay this tax.
Quote from: thelakelander on August 04, 2013, 03:41:25 PM
You'd benefit from more than just commuters. Visiting tourist, business travelers, people using us as a gas stop on their way to Central & South Florida, etc., also pay this tax.
True
The gas tax revenue is limited to JTA. It is not used for any other purpose.
Without the gas tax, if the city wants to maintain transit service will have to provide funds from other sources - making less available for those uses.
Gas tax can be bonded to build or fix roads. Extending it is not adding a new tax. We are going to run off a cliff with our lack of finances, don't worry that the roads are not being maintained, the grass cannot be cut, Parks cannot be cleaned or maintained, police and fire cannot be adequately compensated. And so it goes.
It is just such a bad idea. If he needs something to the extend to anti-tax crowd just renew it with a half a cent decrease. While that is a bad idea as well in these budget strapped time it is not as brain dead as scrapping the whole thing.
Quote from: JeffreyS on August 05, 2013, 07:49:33 AM
It is just such a bad idea. If he needs something to the extend to anti-tax crowd just renew it with a half a cent decrease. While that is a bad idea as well in these budget strapped time it is not as brain dead as scrapping the whole thing.
In general, politicians do not like dedicated funding sources. They can't play with them as much as they can general revenue. Aren't you glad that the school system has its own dedicated funding source?
Keep the gas tax and/or reinstate the mobility fee.
We need both and more.
This is what caught my eye in the statement from the mayor.
Quote
"Now, we can provide the best return on investment by exploring innovative ways to support our transportation networks," the statement said.
But Brown has not proposed any specific alternatives
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-08-03/story/mayor-wants-end-local-gas-tax-city-council-members-say-they-want#ixzz2b7sBe3Ap
It is difficult to see this idea to cut the gas tax as anything but a political move geared toward re-election. It is my understanding that the mayor's office claims they get many, many emails asking them not to raise taxes. That being the case it would follow that
the mayor would look to gain political traction by moving to end a tax but he has no plan or specifics regarding how to do so and how to shore up lost revenue. No plan, no specifics. Again, great declarations of action from the mayor without a plan, this should worry everyone in Jacksonville. Maybe someone needs to remind Mayor Brown that there are only 20 registered Tea Party voters in Duval.
Extjend the gas tax, revenue is needed, No infrasturce repairs or replacement without the gas tax.
I want to see a regional transportation plan that doesn't involve one getting/trying for re-election.
Once they have a plan and its not breakable by re-election promises, then I will commit to any tax they like.
I agree with the previous post. Politicians hate protected, dedicated revenue sources. They want to play with the piggy bank themselves.
Quote from: spuwho on September 11, 2013, 10:45:56 PM
I want to see a regional transportation plan that doesn't involve one getting/trying for re-election.
The TPO updates their regional plan every 5 years....the question for the 2040 update now underway ios whether they should assume that local gas tax revenues exist beyond 2016.