JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A bill that would allow Jacksonville use a half-cent sales tax to fund employee pension plans passed the Florida House on Wednesday as Mayor Lenny Curry, City Council members and a delegation of JAX Chamber members were in Tallahassee to lobby for the measure.
The bill will allow the city to extend the tax approved by voters in 2000 to pay for new buildings and road improvements and use it to pay off a deficit of over $2 billion for the Police and Fire Pension Fund and the city's two other employee pension funds -- if Duval County voters approve.
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"It may not be the ideal solution that some of us in this chamber want to support, but for our city, it's the best solution," said Rep. Reggie Fullwood, D-Jacksonville.
But Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach, said the bill would be tantamount to a tax increase and would allow Jacksonville to make its pension system sturdier than the state's system. He also mocked some of the spending in the city's budget, suggesting it could be used to shore up the system without the sales tax.
Tobia also warned that Jacksonville might be a template for other local governments.
"What this bill does is it opens it up to other cities across the state. ... This will happen to Orlando. This will happen to Miami. This will happen to Tampa," Tobia said.
HB 1297 was approved on a vote of 86-23 as more than half of Jacksonville City Council members were watching from the House gallery.
A similar measure has received approval from three Senate committees and could receive a vote from the full Senate next week. If the two bills are reconciled and signed by Gov. Rick Scott, it would still face a vote before the half-cent tax could be extended beyond 2030.
The city is currently paying $260 million each year in pension payments -- about 20 percent of the budget -- 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.