09-10 Budget by John Peyton

[tufsu1]

Sadly itr is 4:30am and I am awake!

The stormwater fee )and other fees) go to reserve accounts...making it harder for them to be used for anything other than their stated purpose.

As to your concern with a $1 billion budget...I would assume that this is not too much for a state of 20 miollion people or a nation of 300 million, right?

And even for Jax...we're basically talking about $1100 per resident, which doesn't seem outrageous to me....plus most of it comes from property taxes on businesses.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Making them harder to be used, but not impossible right.

[Lunican]

From:  Councilman John Crescimbeni
Finally, there seems to be an interesting twist developing in the millage rate saga. As you may know, on August 4, the Property Appraiser will need a millage rate to begin printing Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices. If no millage rate has been established by the city, the Property Appraiser is by law compelled to use a rollback rate â€" determined by dividing last year’s property tax revenue by this year’s total assessment (which was down $3.5 billion from last year). As I understand it, that computation equals 9.2727 mils. Let’s assume the City Council rejects the mayor’s proposed rate of 9.50 mils at next Tuesday’s City Council meeting, and instead adopts the Finance Committee’s recommendation of maintaining the current rate of 8.4841. As with all legislation approved by the City Council, it becomes law upon the first of the following two things happening; immediately upon the mayor signing the bill; or in two weeks without the mayor’s signature. If the mayor doesn’t sign the legislation by August 4th, there will be no millage rate set. At that point, the Property Appraiser will have no choice but to TRIM with the rollback rate of 9.2727.

[tufsu1]

I heard about this twist the other day, but something tells me the council members have known about it from the beginning

This just means that the conservatives can stick my their "no new taxes pledge" and still get enough to avoid drastic cuts.

What a cop out!

[CS Foltz]

Well here we go again with the smoke and mirror routine that the current Mayoral wannabe has used for several years......its the same ole "We are gonna have to cut such and such" and "This will impact public safety" and "How oh How will we be able to jump this hurdle".  I have yet to see anything concrete come from the Mayor regarding cutting of anything. I look at the AMIO situation, which by the way swelled  from the original 20 to the 194 currently on payroll. But according to the Mayor that is cheaper than having them on Civil Service payroll with benefits etc etc! So by my standards......I am tired of the current Administration running this City like a business,per the Mayors original campaign pledge, for if this has been business like, heaven help us all! If I have any say in the matter, the Mayor can get his financial house inorder first then I would consider an new taxes but not before!

[tufsu1]

maybe you should take a look at how Jax. compares to other Florida cities on spending for things like police, parks, public works, etc. ...then tell us its all just smoke and mirrors!

[CS Foltz]

Well last time I checked, Ship Yards had gone down the tubes.....that cost us how much money? Last I heard was 16 Millions dollars when all was said and done. We have the Trail Ridge escapade going on at this time (I don't believe that has been settled yet) We have the Craig Airport extension battle still brewing, can't wait till that one starts up again and it will. How about a new Shipping facility at Dames Point with no rail in or out, plan there is to use 9A to shuttle trucks in and out but first we need to build the road up to be able to handle the truck traffic and about 3 yrs down the road it will have to be done again. How about the "Fee's" we got saddled with? That was a blatant end run around voter approval! How about AIMO positions that cost us 12 Million dollars right now......that's 194 by the way, up somewhat from the original 20 that was authorized! Your concerned about Parks......well I am also! But if the Mayor says we need to save 54 or 52 Million more from the projected Budget of 1 BILLION DOLLARS, I think that the Mayor needs to get our financial house in order before he gets busy wasting more of our tax dollars! If you or I overspent our budget there would be consequences and the Mayors solution appears to be tax or fee to make up for his short comings! I disagree!

[tufsu1]

so Shipyards is considered a failure?....maybe you should reconsider....

The most recent company had to rebuild the bulkhead along the entire length and soon the City will have a new 1/2 mile long public space for free....and we got the land back when they defaulted.

[Keith-N-Jax]

SO it was a success. At this point in Jacksonville's history I can't see the city having this land as a positive. Until they prove me wrong I'll stand by this. Oh and you statement about how Jax compares to other Fla cities,,lol I needed that one. Your pro Peyton speeches are beyond redundant!!!

[tufsu1]

keith....I'm not pro-Peyton....but let me ask this...would you would be fine with raising our property tax rate by 15-20% if we had a new mayor?

The reason for asking is that is how much lower our tax rate is than ANY OTHER major city in Florida!

[stjr]

keith....I'm not pro-Peyton....but let me ask this...would you would be fine with raising our property tax rate by 15-20% if we had a new mayor?

The reason for asking is that is how much lower our tax rate is than ANY OTHER major city in Florida!

Tufsu, when posters that disagree with you call you pro-Peyton, its meant to be a compliment.  That's because they can't come up with a rational and supported response to your comments and its their code word for waving the white flag regarding your points made.  If they had something substantive to say, they would have responded differently.

This is a common tactic by those who argue by emotion than by reason.  It's really not worth responding to them because they can't communicate on your level.

P.S. I have been accused of being "pro-Peyton" when I agree with him even though I have posted countless posts in disagreement with him, especially over the courthouse.  But, with some people, you are either with them all the time or not at all.  I think we had a recent presidential administration that operated with this mindset.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Its just not the Mayor, even though that position is probably the most important. City leaders share just as much of responsibility. I am for a better Jax period. Raising taxes doesnt mean anything if we dont have the right personal in place making the right decisions. I know budgeting and taxes needs to be dicussed, but so do proper management, public input, spending, and accountability. Peyton still has sometime left in office.I'll be watching!!!    

[Keith-N-Jax]

My post about someone being pro Peyton is certainly not a compliment. What ever level of communication you believe your on, stay there great, happy for you. Anyway, I dont have really have to say or do anything, why, because your buddy Peyton will do all the work for me. Next couple of years should be interesting. White flag waving!!

[CS Foltz]

Well I sure am relieved we got the "Ship Yards" property back! Whopee.....that will do alot for relieving parking congestion downtown......Hay how about this....lets buy some surplus tents and fix up a Homeless Day Care Center on the property. Cost should be minimal.....import some portapotties and bang....there we go! Infact lets move City Hall there......then the current Bldg could be converted to Condo's! Yuck....Yuck! My point is that the Mayor ,running the City like a business as promised, has yet to fullfill that pledge. Sure its not his fault, yea right, then it must be the fault of the Managers he himself appointed! I really get tired of substandard second stringers pontificating! It would be nice to have professionals guiding our City instead of what we have!

[stjr]

Unfortunately, no one will ever be able to truly run government like a business?  Why? POLITICS.  By its nature, our form of government serves many masters with a wide range of opinions and expectations.  As such, most of what it does is based on compromise making it an imperfect system that is unable to ever attain absolute efficiencies.  (Note, even in the corporate world, perfect efficiencies are rarely, if ever, obtained, due to the failings of human nature, if nothing else.)

So, the real question, given the above, is is the subject government reasonably efficient given its constraints and competing demands.  Generally, that is a subjective answer based on the eyes of the beholder.  But those who insist on perfection are likely using this as a tool to block any progressive moves at all by government.  That's OK but lets make it clear, such proponents won't be happy until government is almost completely dismantled.