Melissa Ross
Pension reform (not just in Jacksonville, but statewide) was one of the hot topics at the Florida TaxWatch roundtable luncheon hosted by powerhouse legal firm Holland & Knight and attended by a local who’s who of players.
The forum, which also featured this website’s own A.G. Gancarski as a panelist, also touched on other issues ranging from economic opportunities for Florida in Cuba, to North Florida’s renewed muscle in Tallahassee.
“We have been calling for pension reform for more than a decade,” said Robert Weissert, Executive VP and Counsel to the President at Florida TaxWatch. Noting Mayor Lenny Curry‘s recent success in getting legislators to approve a referendum for Jacksonville voters that would extend the city’s half-cent sales tax to pay down massive pension debt, Weissert pointed out that statewide, unfunded pension liability is in the $11 billion range.
“We need to look at the statewide pension system itself.”
Holland & Knight’s executive partner Daniel Bean noted that Curry’s move to put the vote to a referendum in August, not November, brings with it pluses and minuses.
“It does present a time crunch,” Bean said, “but on the other hand, the November ballot will be long and complicated.”
In the crowd, Jacksonville City Councilman Matt Schellenberg, who told the group that “I don’t believe the sales tax extension is going to be a struggle,” and Aundra Wallace, who heads up the city’s Downtown Investment Authority.
Wallace pointed out that he was living in Detroit when that city went through bankruptcy. “This referendum passage will allow the city to prioritize what they want to get done.”
