JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Jacksonville’s state lawmakers are worried pension reform approved by voters in 2016 could be at risk, potentially exposing the city to massive budget shortfalls.
It’s all due to 15 words in the Florida House’s 58-page tax package.
The small change could cause the city to lose up to 34 years’ worth of tax revenue it was counting on to sure up the pension fund for current and retired police, firefighters and other city employees.
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The bill language could sunset the half penny sales tax voters approved in 2016 as early as 2026.
Jacksonville’s budget was in crisis, with pensions making up 20 percent of annual spending, before former Mayor Lenny Curry managed to get pension reform through the Florida Legislature and approved by Jacksonville voters in 2016.
A key piece of that plan was levying a half penny sales tax as long as 44 years to sure up the pensions and free up other city revenues for other purposes like infrastructure.
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But the provision in the tax package, which is already teed up for a floor vote in the Florida House, would require any sales tax levied to pay for municipal retirement plans to sunset ten years after initially being approved by voters.
State Representative Wyman Duggan (R-Jacksonville) explained that could mean in order to retain the funding source, Jacksonville’s pension tax could have to go before voters in 2026, 2036, 2046 and potentially even one additional time in 2056.
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In the event it doesn’t pass, he said the city could find itself with a hole in its budget totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
“The Curry administration hit a grand slam home run in getting this funding solution put in place because otherwise, the impact on city finances was going to be catastrophic,” said Duggan.
Tonight on Action News Jax we’ll hear reaction from local city leaders and tell you how the legislation could also potentially have some big impacts on the proposed stadium deal.
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