A.G. Gancarski
On Wednesday, Lenny Curry expressed optimism that Gov. Rick Scott will sign the bill allowing Jacksonville to have a pension tax referendum.
“I feel good about where we are,” Curry said as he spoke to local media. He said the Governor’s decision to sign – or not – is the “last phase of the work in Tallahassee.”
There are a “lot of bills on his desk. They’re going through it,” Curry said. “The Governor and I talk regularly” and the “relationship is great.”
Curry has expressed well-founded optimism about his relationship with Scott in recent days, saying that “we are aligned” and that the city “knocked it out of the park” so far concerning the state budget.
Approval, Curry said, would make commuters and visitors “part of solving the problem,” while making General Fund assets more available for police, roads, infrastructure, and nitrogen cleanup of the river, all priorities hampered by Jacksonville’s “crippling pension liabilities.”
A source familiar with the local lobbying effort, meanwhile, said that Scott had made a “strong commitment” to signing the bill.
The bill would facilitate a referendum in August or November to extend the half-cent sales tax, currently earmarked for Better Jacksonville Plan project payoff, to handle the unfunded liability of the current municipal employee defined benefit plan.
The extension could go as far out as 2060, to address the $2.7 billion unfunded pension liability.
If the bill is signed, the defined benefit plan will be closed.
