Controversial Jax pension savings bill makes its return to City Council

Jacksonville City Councilman Danny Becton ran afoul of Mayor Lenny Curry this summer, by filing a bill (2017-348) that the Mayor’s Office opposed.

That bill would require that 15 percent of all general fund money beyond the baseline budget go toward defraying the city’s $3.2B unfunded actuarial liability on pension.

Back in June, even as Becton held a public notice meeting with Council colleagues to push the bill, the Southside Republican was already crossways with the Mayor’s Office on this measure — though he seemed to be the last to know.

Becton said the Mayor’s Office had a “very favorable” read on the bill; Curry diverged.

“I don’t know where he got that from,” the Mayor said.

The bill did not clear Council — rather, it was pulled back by Becton, who reserved the right to bring the bill back at the right moment.

With budget deliberations having wrapped this week, the time apparently is now — as Becton has public notice meetings scheduled Thursday: one in the morning with the most recent past Council President Lori Boyer (seen by some in the Mayor’s orbit as still being Council President), followed by a 4 PM meeting with other Council members.

The timing on the bill’s resuscitation seems purposeful: Becton is the Vice-Chair of the City Council Finance Committee now; he and other supporters of the election of Council President Anna Brosche hold six of seven spots on that committee.

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Becton has not been averse to iconoclasm since his election in 2015.

He, more than anyone else on Council, balked in committees on the city spending $45M on stadium improvements, going halfsies with Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan on a new “flex-field,” an amphitheater, and other stadium improvements.

However, he did vote for these in the end.

Becton also vowed to consider voting against Mayor Curry’s full budget, based on $8.4M the Mayor wanted allocated to build a community field and for dorms at Edward Waters College — projects considered vital to helping with crime abatement in the New Town neighborhood.

Becton also was more concerned than most on Finance this month about a report from Bloomberg that suggested that Jacksonville’s high fixed-costs and pension obligations could exert “downward pressure” on the city’s credit rating.

We reached out to Becton and Curry for fresh comments on this bill; as of Tuesday morning, we haven’t heard back. When we do, we will update.