JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Lenny Curry and his staff provided details Thursday on the costs and projected benefits of the pension fund bailout plan that he has championed since he was elected nearly two years ago.
An ordinance was submitted to Jacksonville City Council last month to enact the half-cent sales tax that voters passed last year to fund the nearly $3 billion pension fund deficit. The tax would go into effect in 2030, when the current half-cent tax funding Jacksonville's Better Jacksonville Plan expires.
"I have secured an existing source of revenue. No one else has been successful at doing that. It will be used only to pay down the pension debt," Curry said.
Thursday, Curry presented City Council with 35 pages of details on what the plan will cost and how the city will fund the 20 percent raises for police and firefighters over the next three years, 25 percent 401(c)3 match for new employees and other promises made by the Curry during contract negotiations the unions.
"The reform package you are reviewing ends an outdated, unsustainable, legacy pension system. (They) are bankrupting, crippling cities all across the United States," Curry told the council.
Curry said that if the plan goes as expected, the pension deficit would be completely paid off around 2049-2051. But his presentation acknowledged that there are costs associated with the new pension plan, including $37 million to fund raises next year, $77 million the following year and $120 million in 2020.
His staff presented data showing that the new plan would save the city $141 million next year -- a net savings of $82 million. The city's estimated savings would be $83 million in 2018 and $74 in 2020.
"Do not lose sight of the fact that a generation before us kicked these pension liabilities down the road, and in doing so, they put us in the position of having to pay this bill," Curry said.
Curry turned the rest of the three-hour meeting with City Council over to his finance director, Michael Weinstein, and chief administrative officer, Sam Mousa.
Critics of Curry's plan have said it also postpones paying off off the build of the pension liability until the sales tax begins in 17 years, which creates additional interest and will raise the total due.
There will be public hearing on the reform plan next Tuesday and Wednesday and the committee will hear from the Fraternal Order of Police and Jacksonville Association of Firefighters before a vote is held.