Lenny Curry on Jax pension referendum: “It has to pass”

Mayor Lenny Curry

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry says while he knows making the case to voters will be “a heavy lift,” he’s all in for selling his pension referendum plan to the city.

“This has to pass,” Curry told WJCT. “We have $2.7 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. Right now we spend $260 million dollars a year in pension costs. Next year it’ll be $280 million, the year after that it’ll be $300 million. That’s about 30 percent of a billion dollar operating budget. What that means is, whatever taxpayers care about in this city, 30 percent of that goes to something that does absolutely nothing for them.”

After successfully convincing Tallahassee leadership to put his plan on Jacksonville’s August 30th primary ballot, Curry has staked much of the success of his first term on getting the pension plan approved. It would extend the Better Jacksonville Plan half-cent sales tax (which was scheduled to sunset) through 2060. However, unlike former Mayor John Delaney‘s successful campaign for the BJP, the current mayor has the unenviable task of persuading voters to approve a sales tax extension that will result in no visible projects or new buildings.

Curry, who has taken criticism in some quarters for his tough stance on solving the pension crisis before looking at other funding issues in the city, speaks about the situation with a sense of urgency.

“We are on the brink of a financial crisis. We are like the frog in the boiling water. The day of reckoning has arrived. If we don’t solve it now, we’ll have to cut more city services. The budget will continue to be eaten alive by these costs to the point where we won’t even have the money for public safety,” he said.

 

 

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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