Jacksonville Journey: Peyton won't ask for tax increase

[thelakelander]

JACKSONVILLE JOURNEY The numbers for his plan are fluid

By DAVID HUNT, The Times Union

Jacksonville Journey won't require higher taxes, although its funding scheme relies on cuts to the anti-crime plan and leaves its more distant future in question.

In a move that surprised even some of his staffers, Mayor John Peyton announced Tuesday he will not ask the City Council to raise the city's property tax rate. Instead, some of cost for the plan could be absorbed into the city's debt while next year's tax revenues, that had been initially underestimated, would pay the rest.

As part of the initiative, the mayor announced plans to increase public safety funding by $10 million - money that will add 80 police officers, 80 corrections officers and 23 emergency dispatchers to the city payroll.

Peyton admitted to carrying an ambiguous stance on taxes in recent weeks. He has given numerous speeches to community groups - one just an hour before Tuesday's news conference - comparing Jacksonville's property tax rate to an arguably understaffed police force and a violence problem making the city the homicide capital of Florida.

But the numbers discussed Tuesday remain fluid. In order for the budget scenario to work, $6 million must be chopped from Jacksonville Journey's first-year programming. The multi-faceted plan, aimed at reducing crime through community development and youth programs, had been estimated to cost $36.2 million in its first year.

Peyton spokeswoman Susie Wiles said the cuts could be accomplished by removing after-school and summer camp programs that separate planning committees had duplicated.

Still, the city has to find about $30 million in next year's budget. And how that revenue will flow in subsequent years isn't clearly known.

Wiles said the most palatable possibility uses a growing tax base to pay for growing programs, but initial estimates project Jacksonville Journey could double in annual cost after five years.

Peyton said Jacksonville Journey is a work in progress. He said programs and funding could be altered based on performance and future budget priorities.

In the numbers laid out Tuesday:

- Jacksonville Journey will cost about $30 million next year.

- About $21 million of that will require cash while another $9 million could be handled by financing capital projects - such as community center rehabilitation - through bonds.

- Budget planners determined $14 million of the needed cash will come from property tax revenue, where estimates initially had been "overly conservative." The other $7 million will come from departmental savings, such as a reduction in the city's auto fleet and a move to purchase computer software rather than pay technicians to customize programs.

Ultimately, the council will determine if the Jacksonville Journey is funded and, if so, how. Peyton is scheduled to present a balanced budget to the council on July 14.

He said finer points of the spending plan will become firm by then.

"We have a war to fight and it's going to take resources to fight it," Peyton told a crowd of about 100 gathered for Tuesday's announcement. "Failure to address this problem will cause more damage than any economic cycle we've ever seen."

Council members had been standing against higher taxes, although they supported the ideas of the Jacksonville Journey.

Council President Daniel Davis said Peyton's announcement left him more optimistic, adding that a tax debate during a tough budget year was going to be "a train wreck."

One group left pleased was the local chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a grass-roots group that had been protesting a possible tax increase.

"This is a tremendous day for Jacksonville taxpayers," said Adam Guillette, the group's state director.

John Rood, who co-chairs the Jacksonville Journey steering committee, said he wasn't surprised by the announcement.

"What would surprise me is if he didn't do Journey. That would surprise and disappoint me," he said.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/062508/met_294945099.shtml

[thebrokenforum]

So, is this plan expected to make any kind of a dent in the crime problem? From the sound clips they played of Rutherford on the news it seems like even he is doubtful. Not a good sign.

And is it just me or does it seem like this city is coming apart at the seams? The news has been insane lately. I know it's never wise to ask how much worse can it get but...damn. I have lately found myself questioning whether I want to continue raise my family here and trying to remind myself why this is a great place to live. 

[thebrokenforum]

I am really surprised there wasn't more discussion on this topic. It seems like we're back to a murder a day again. i know there up to 70 lurkers at any given time on this site. yet it's quiet...I often wonder if the mayor reads these threads.

I am also surprised that there hasn't been more national news coverage on Jax due to the crime we continue to have.

I am surprised there hasn't been a stronger public outcry to the mayor's office regarding safety.

I am not surprised that we may surpass last year's murder rate. 

[Driven1]

the outcries come when an innocent is killed (like Dreshawna).  let the drug dealers kill each other (porbably a good portion of the stats that you see).  they are doing society a favor.

[thebrokenforum]

I honestly can't remember the last time I read about drug dealers killing each other in the TU. I have read about a guy that blew his wife away and shot his son at the hospital. I read about a regular guy getting shot at a popular neighborhood bar. A gang rape on the beach. A woman covered in blood on the street. A guy shot to death in his trailer. 3 rapes. A young man murdered near an elementary school. And it goes on and on and on...and this is all just in the last week.

So I disagree with you that this is just "drug dealers" killing each other. Don't get me wrong because I understand where you are coming from but that wouldn't solve anything. It just breeds more violence. It also gives the city a horrible image.

This message board has a ton of positive ideas (and people) for the city and I always like reading the new ideas and insights about what can make the city a better place but letting the violence continue because you think it's 'thinning the herd'  is not a viable option. If that was the case Detroit would be a great place to raise a family by now. clearly, it's not. And we aren't too far behind the motor city in terms ofviolence.