No debate on Jax pension tax for Lenny Curry

Jacksonville attorney John Winkler may want to debate Mayor Lenny Curry on the merits of the pension tax. But Curry’s not having it.

Last week, Winkler challenged Curry to a debate, to be held Tuesday night on Jacksonville’s Southside.

Winkler had expected to dialogue with Mayor Curry at a WJCT town hall event, but the scheduling fell through on the mayor’s side.

With that in mind, Winkler proposed a debate at the Salem Center on Jacksonville’s Southside, a venue best known for Republican Executive Committee meetings.

The scheduling request was being reviewed last week, said the mayor’s office. And apparently that review has concluded.

The mayor won’t be there. And neither will anyone else from the administration, wrote spokeswoman Marsha Oliver Monday afternoon.

Oliver notes that “for nearly eight months, the mayor has led and continues to participate in presentations, discussions and meetings to educate citizens and groups about his pension reform proposal. Mr. Winkler is no exception, as he participated in a session hosted last week by Downtown Vision, where the mayor also facilitated a question and answer session.”

“Based on these efforts and the work he and the administration have led to earn unanimous support from City Council, near-unanimous support of the state Legislature, and Gov. Scott, Mayor Curry’s solution has already been debated. Citizens are now being presented with an opportunity to act,” Oliver concludes, “stopping the pension crisis that is continuing to cripple the city.”

Winkler and Curry have dueling political committees arguing the merits of extending the half-cent sales tax. There is a pronounced resource gap, however.

Curry’s “Yes for Jacksonville” political committee has nearly a million dollars banked.

Winkler’s “Just Vote No” committee has $194 on hand.

Both men are messaging ahead of the Aug. 30 referendum, which would allow the city to institute a half-cent sales tax no later than 2030, as a deferred contribution to Jacksonville’s $2.7 billion unfunded pension liability.

Both Curry and Winkler agree bad decisions of the past helped create the problem.

On the solution, however, they couldn’t disagree more.