‘Yes for Jacksonville’ releases longform web video pushing pension tax

Along the lines of its commercials, currently airing on Jacksonville television in heavy rotation, “Yes for Jacksonville” pushed out a long-form web video this week as part of its closing argument for why the half-cent sales tax should be extended to re-amortize and retire the $2.7 billion unfunded actuarial liability faced by Jacksonville’s public pensions.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry starts off the 3:44 clip saying he was “honored to win your support to take the city in a new direction.”

From there, Curry reminds viewers of his accounting background, before laying out the argument familiar to those who have seen him sell the tax extension in town halls and employee forums.

Billing “transparency” and “fiscal responsibility” as his guiding principles, Curry references the emergency audit he commissioned upon taking office, an audit which contended pension costs were clouding the city’s fiscal forecast in a way that required resolution.

“A tough reality has emerged. Jacksonville is a city on the brink of real fiscal danger,” Curry said.

Curry described current public pension schemes as “unsustainable,” before discussing the unfunded actuarial liability, which is projected to balloon even more with each passing year.

Curry noted that the unfunded liability is nearly three times the city’s operating budget, adding that the current burden on the budget, already close to 30 percent, will get bigger in the next few budgets.

A yes vote, Curry pledges, requires closing the city’s pension plans.

“No new employees will be allowed into the existing pension plans,” Curry said.

“We will honor commitments made to existing employees,” Curry added, “but they will contribute more.”

The existing half-penny tax, obligated to the Better Jacksonville Plan until 2030, would be repurposed to address the unfunded liability.

“Current projections are that the liability we face will be completely eliminated by 2048,” Curry said.

If those projections hold true, the tax would go away then.

“Locking in a dedicated source of revenue, even years in advance, would positively change the city’s financial forecast now and in the years to come,” Curry said.

Curry notes the bipartisan solution crafted with both the Jacksonville City Council and the state government toward the end of the ad.

Will this ad mollify critics, who have likened the pension reform plan to a “payday loan”? Probably not.

Will it undercut those criticisms as hyperbole? That’s the bet that “Yes for Jacksonville” seems to be making.