Lenny Curry pitches pension-tax to young professionals

On Tuesday evening, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry pitched young professionals on the pension-tax referendum slated for Aug. 30.

The event took place in Shad Khan’s suite at EverBank Field. Matt Brockelman, the event organizer from sponsor Southern Strategy Group, said around 60 people attended and approximately $10,000 was raised for the “Yes for Jacksonville” political committee, which supports passage of the referendum.

Much of the pitch was familiar to those who have been paying attention to the marketing effort.

“Right now, because our pensions have been so badly underfunded, we’re paying more than $200 million annually in pension costs as a city, and that number will continue to grow to nearly $300 million in the next few years. This is money you, as taxpayers, are spending on this today. We should be paying closer to $75 million annually,” Curry said, noting the measure on the table is a referendum extending the current half-cent tax devoted to infrastructure needs.

Curry described the impact of the prospective revenue as “transformational for Jacksonville,” especially 15 to 20 years out.

“Unfortunately,” said Curry, “you don’t often hear elected officials pushing this hard for true, long-term solutions. But that’s what I’m doing.”

Curry’s pitch was more sophisticated than it has been to some audiences, as he described the benefit of guaranteed revenue addressing the unfunded actuarial liability.

“There will be substantial near-term budgetary benefits, as well, since actuaries will take this long-term asset into account when determining how much we need to pay today on our unfunded liability. That will allow the city to begin reinvesting in the things we should be doing for our citizens. Public safety initiatives. Some basic city services. Did you know that a lot of our public land only gets mowed five times per year? Take the Liberty Street bridge right here in Downtown that crumbled and then just sat there for years without being fixed.”

Curry assured those in attendance that if the referendum passes, he will have to collectively bargain with the city’s unions, “something we should’ve been doing every three years but haven’t.”

He also reminded his audience “state law requires me to close the pension plans that receive this revenue to new employees. That means we’ll be coming up with new plans for new employees that will be sustainable for the future. And these new plans absolutely have to be sustainable.”

If Curry does not deliver in collective bargaining, he expects to “pay a steep political price.” He knows taxpayers will be watching.

When asked by an audience member what investments would happen once the revenue source was secured, Curry explained why he couldn’t commit.

“Some pull me aside in closed-door meetings and say ‘Hey mayor, you can promise us something here, can’t you? It doesn’t need to be public.’ Well, I’m not doing it. It wouldn’t be right. This is about our city’s future broadly. Solving our pension problems will have an enormous impact for many years that cannot be understated, so we need to think about it in macro terms,” Curry said.

“What I can say is that many of the priorities around the city — investing in neighborhoods and communities, infrastructure, public safety, enhancing areas such as Downtown — we can’t do these things if we continue to be financially crippled,” Curry added.

Curry also noted the political discourse on the issue of public pensions.

“We often see people retreating to their corners: on the far left, they want the old style of pensions and enormous benefits to stay in place without any compromise. On the far right, they want pensions gone or drastically cut for existing employees, and still think city services can be cut across the board without consequence to anyone. We need to move past all of that,” Curry said.

“It’s not about left versus right. It’s about truly solving this problem once and for all and moving toward a fiscally sound future,” Curry added.

Curry also cautioned against expectations this revenue would factor into the budget being submitted to City Council Monday, saying “the meaningful budgetary impact we’re looking for won’t start to take effect until FY 17-18, so that will be something to look for in next year’s budget cycle.”

According to Brockelman, the event was a success.

“I think the mayor was happy with the event. With our group, it’s not about the total dollars raised. There are companies and business leaders who can double our amount with the stroke of a pen. The important thing was showing that young professionals are committed to the cause, willing to put skin in the game, and ready to use reach-out to our networks to get ‘yes’ votes” on the referendum.