Lenny Not Raising Taxes

[TheCat]

Crunch time is coming for Mayor Lenny Curry to hammer out a budget that he said will be based on keeping the same property tax rate in place.
Curry and his budget team have two weeks to sort through an array of budget requests and make them fit into the bottom line.

He must submit his proposed budget to the City Council by July 20.

Curry said he'll direct his finance administrators to build the budget around the current rate of 11.4419 mills.

"I've said before that we've got a billion dollars [budget] in this city and I'll be able to figure out how to fund my priorities and grow the economy in the years ahead so we can do the things we need to do," he said.

Economic growth will generate more tax revenue for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, even without a tax rate increase.

Property tax revenues should be up by about $26 million. State-shared revenues also could be higher by several million dollars, though officials are still waiting for the state to make specific projections.

At the city's current property tax rate, the owner of a $150,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption would pay a city tax bill of $1,144.

Although Curry just took office Wednesday, a budget task force operating as part of his transition committee already met in public sessions with department heads and agencies, taking a first pass at their requests for next year.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office wants money for 40 more police officers and 40 community service officers, which are civilians who respond to minor incidents, freeing up officers to concentrate on more serious call-outs.

The fire department wants money to keep a group of firefighters on the job after a federal grant expires.

The library system wants to restore some of the operating hours lost to big budget cuts three years ago.

The city is in catch-up mode for everyday maintenance such as paving streets.

Curry said public safety is his top priority. He said he wants to boost police officers and also will focus on programs that help young people stay clear of crime.

He said he doesn't have a budget number yet for Jacksonville Journey, the city's crime-prevention program.

He said part of the review will be seeing how to best organize the various programs the city has that focus on reaching at-risk young people.

He also plans to use the bully pulpit of the mayor's office to promote the programs.

"To try to just pull someone and put them into them in a program without them knowing you care about them, that is not a long-term solution, and I'm going to be there on the front lines," he said.


David Bauerlein, (904) 359-4581

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-07-04/story/jacksonville-mayor-lenny-curry-says-he-wants-keep-tax-rate-same

[Tacachale]

It says he "he wants to keep tax rate the same." Good luck.

[brainstormer]

He has clearly stated his priority. Safety/Crime Prevention. My prediction...

He presents a budget that guts quality of life, non-profit, infrastructure, and social safety-net line items. Residents will give their council members negative feedback on all of the cuts. There will then be a back and forth that gets messy and includes a lot of fear mongering. Council will have a contentious vote to raise taxes to offset the cuts.

What I wish would happen is that we would have an open and honest conversation about the fact that we cannot fulfill pension obligations, increase the sheriff's budget, and maintain somewhat decent quality of services for all residents without some additional revenue. Nice things cost money and require maintenance in order to remain nice. We so often forget about maintenance. If residents want an additional 80 employees in the sheriff's budget then we should be willing to pay for them. Keep in mind, they will need cars and equipment, insurance, benefits, etc. Let's be honest with taxpayers instead of selling them on this idea that these "wants" are easy to fund.

[WarDamJagFan]

Put the Skyway to Nowhere and the Tower of Babel (aka the courthouse) up for sale. That should do the trick!  (sarcasm)

[tufsu1]

It says he "he wants to keep tax rate the same." Good luck.

exactly...carefully chosen words!

[spuwho]

Can't have it both ways.

If he says he is open to feedback and that requires new taxes, then he should be free to pursue it.

If he gets feedback that is tax adverse, then he should be free to avoid them.

I think it is unrealistic to expect any public leader to make a sweeping declaration on taxes (either way).

It instantly shuts out any opportunity for key decisions to be made about ANY public service and their value to the area.

[IrvAdams]

He has clearly stated his priority. Safety/Crime Prevention. My prediction...

He presents a budget that guts quality of life, non-profit, infrastructure, and social safety-net line items. Residents will give their council members negative feedback on all of the cuts. There will then be a back and forth that gets messy and includes a lot of fear mongering. Council will have a contentious vote to raise taxes to offset the cuts.

What I wish would happen is that we would have an open and honest conversation about the fact that we cannot fulfill pension obligations, increase the sheriff's budget, and maintain somewhat decent quality of services for all residents without some additional revenue. Nice things cost money and require maintenance in order to remain nice. We so often forget about maintenance. If residents want an additional 80 employees in the sheriff's budget then we should be willing to pay for them. Keep in mind, they will need cars and equipment, insurance, benefits, etc. Let's be honest with taxpayers instead of selling them on this idea that these "wants" are easy to fund.

This.
Couldn't have said it better.

[MusicMan]

The City owns millions of dollars of rel estate/property. Vacant land , buildings, etc.......

If the City owns it then it produces no tax revenue. Many of these parcels could be sold, bringing in much needed revenue and increasing

the tax base. My experience with the Real Estate Division of COJ was forgettable. I brought them an offer for a vacant building, one they had

taken back in a foreclosure action. They had not maintained it at all. They told my Buyer he was responsible for all past due taxes (which had

accrued since they took possession.) It was a disaster. The City needs a fast and efficient way to list these parcels to see if there are

interested buyers out there. Pretty much anything under a million $ could be sold without the need for a City Council review. OR appoint a

retired Real Estate Broker to over see the disposition of these assets. Not all will sell, but many will. Over the course of 4 years this could

easily bring in millions of dollars in sales revenue plus the increase in tax revenue. If not they will continue to sit there. I brought this idea up

to Bill Bishop on WJCT First Coast Connect 2 years ago, he agreed it was an excellent idea.

[urbanlibertarian]

The City owns millions of dollars of rel estate/property. Vacant land , buildings, etc.......

If the City owns it then it produces no tax revenue. Many of these parcels could be sold, bringing in much needed revenue and increasing

the tax base. My experience with the Real Estate Division of COJ was forgettable. I brought them an offer for a vacant building, one they had

taken back in a foreclosure action. They had not maintained it at all. They told my Buyer he was responsible for all past due taxes (which had

accrued since they took possession.) It was a disaster. The City needs a fast and efficient way to list these parcels to see if there are

interested buyers out there. Pretty much anything under a million $ could be sold without the need for a City Council review. OR appoint a

retired Real Estate Broker to over see the disposition of these assets. Not all will sell, but many will. Over the course of 4 years this could

easily bring in millions of dollars in sales revenue plus the increase in tax revenue. If not they will continue to sit there. I brought this idea up

to Bill Bishop on WJCT First Coast Connect 2 years ago, he agreed it was an excellent idea.

+1

[vicupstate]

The City owns millions of dollars of rel estate/property. Vacant land , buildings, etc.......

If the City owns it then it produces no tax revenue. Many of these parcels could be sold, bringing in much needed revenue and increasing

the tax base. My experience with the Real Estate Division of COJ was forgettable. I brought them an offer for a vacant building, one they had

taken back in a foreclosure action. They had not maintained it at all. They told my Buyer he was responsible for all past due taxes (which had

accrued since they took possession.) It was a disaster. The City needs a fast and efficient way to list these parcels to see if there are

interested buyers out there. Pretty much anything under a million $ could be sold without the need for a City Council review. OR appoint a

retired Real Estate Broker to over see the disposition of these assets. Not all will sell, but many will. Over the course of 4 years this could

easily bring in millions of dollars in sales revenue plus the increase in tax revenue. If not they will continue to sit there. I brought this idea up

to Bill Bishop on WJCT First Coast Connect 2 years ago, he agreed it was an excellent idea.

All true. Perhaps someone should bring up this idea to the transition committee.

[Tacachale]

^It's been discussed on at least one of the committees and I think it's taken as generally a good idea. It doesn't look like it will make much of a dent in revenues, though, there's just not a lot of value in a lot of that property right now, and there's still a whole lot of privately owned property that isn't moving either.

[spuwho]

Increase the value. Bundle the parcels and put them up for bid with true urban developers.

Selling piecemeal is inefficient and expense heavy.

[JeffreyS]

What I wish would happen is that we would have an open and honest conversation about the fact that we cannot fulfill pension obligations, increase the sheriff's budget, and maintain somewhat decent quality of services for all residents without some additional revenue. Nice things cost money and require maintenance in order to remain nice. We so often forget about maintenance. If residents want an additional 80 employees in the sheriff's budget then we should be willing to pay for them. Keep in mind, they will need cars and equipment, insurance, benefits, etc. Let's be honest with taxpayers instead of selling them on this idea that these "wants" are easy to fund.

So lie throughout the campaign then tell the public what you really need. That is open and honest?

[Bridges]

What I wish would happen is that we would have an open and honest conversation about the fact that we cannot fulfill pension obligations, increase the sheriff's budget, and maintain somewhat decent quality of services for all residents without some additional revenue. Nice things cost money and require maintenance in order to remain nice. We so often forget about maintenance. If residents want an additional 80 employees in the sheriff's budget then we should be willing to pay for them. Keep in mind, they will need cars and equipment, insurance, benefits, etc. Let's be honest with taxpayers instead of selling them on this idea that these "wants" are easy to fund.

The last 2 candidates in Mayoral elections to bring up honest revenue talk have been buried by it.  Any suggestion of increasing tax revenue in Jax is a non-starter and campaign killer. 

[mtraininjax]

Or we could wait for him to present his budget before ripping him a new one....