JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Within hours of Gov. Rick Scott signing a bill that would allow Jacksonville to extend a half-cent sales tax for 30 years and allow it to fund employee pension plans, Mayor Lenny Curry pleadged to sell the measure to voters.
"(The state has) empowered us to come back home and solve a big problem that we've faced for many so years," Curry said at a Friday afternoon news conference.
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At the request of the city of Jacksonville, the Florida House and Senate overwhelmingly passed House Bill 1297. The measure will allow the city to extend a tax approved by voters in 2000 to pay for new buildings and road improvements beyond 2030 and use it to pay off a deficit of nearly $2 billion for the Police and Fire Pension Fund and the city's two other employee pension funds. But only if voters approve the extension.
The city is currently paying $260 million each year in pension payments and the amount is increasing. Curry said that by applying the sales tax revenue, the annual payment coming from the annual budget could be cut in half.
"The pension debt crisis has been in the making for decades and it is crushing our city," Curry said.
Curry said he will work with City Council to schedule a referendum for either August or November and will be the city's No. 1 salesman to convince voters.
"I'm will make the case to the voters of Jacksonville," Curry said. "The right thing to do is follow me down this road."
Curry said if the measure fails, the city will be headed down the one taken by Detroit and wind up unable to pay for basic services, or even facing bankruptcy.