Mayor wants local gas tax to end, some Council members don't agree

[thelakelander]

Mayor 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

[JayBird]

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?

[Josh]

Brown is pathetic.

[tufsu1]

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.

[Tacachale]

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.

[Charles Hunter]

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?

[thelakelander]

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.

[jcjohnpaint]

What do we need revenue for anyways? 

[DDC]

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.

[thelakelander]

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.

[DDC]

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

[NotNow]

The gas tax revenue is limited to JTA.  It is not used for any other purpose.

[Charles Hunter]

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. 

[HisBuffPVB]

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.

[JeffreyS]

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.