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A.G. GancarskiDecember 28, 2016

Subpoenas with a side of sauce. That’s one way to sum up the year. In Jacksonville politics, 2016 started with subpoenas being delivered to Rep. Corrine Brown and her clique at a barbecue place on the Northside. And it ended with a raid on Councilwoman Katrina Brown’s familial barbecue sauce plant on the Westside. Katrina […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 7, 2016

[Updated: 6:40 p.m. with commentary from Mike Weinstein, at the bottom of the piece.] In the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee Wednesday, Mike Weinstein, the city’s CFO, and Tim Johnson, the director of the Police and Fire Pension Fund, discussed a “waiver” in pension cost allocations that had been controversial in recent news cycles. Their joint appearance was […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 29, 2016

Another day, another pension pratfall for the city of Jacksonville. And this latest one will have big cost impacts, perhaps expanding the $2.85 billion unfunded liability. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is incensed about the latest cost overrun from the perpetually beleaguered Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund. “It has come to my attention,” Curry wrote in […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 18, 2016

An ongoing saga of the Lenny Curry administration in Jacksonville has been how to deal with the Senior Staff Voluntary Retirement Plan of the Police and Fire Pension Fund. Earlier this year, the Curry administration opted to scuttle the plan. Though it’s taken some time, a legal challenge may yet manifest from one of Florida’s top lawyers. The […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 23, 2016

The ongoing battle between Jacksonville General Counsel Jason Gabriel and the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund has simmered all spring and into the summer. Earlier in June, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and general counsel Gabriel took aim at the “arrogance and disregard for taxpayers” and “a blatant disregard of public records law” by the Police and Fire […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 2, 2016

The cold war between the executive branch and the police and fire pension fund in Jacksonville keeps heating up on the legal front. At the heart of it all: questions about the city charter, the function of independent authorities, and whether the pension fund is co-equal, in legal terms, with the government of the city […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 1, 2016

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and General Counsel Jason Gabriel have taken aim at the “arrogance and disregard for taxpayers” and “a blatant disregard of public records law” by the Police and Fire Pension Fund, as it relates to soliciting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s opinion on the legality of the PFPF’s Senior Staff Voluntary Retirement Fund. To that end, Curry […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 22, 2016

On Thursday, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry made an audacious move. He ordered that former Police and Fire Pension Fund (PFPF) head John Keane’s pension be cut. In doing so, as readers will see, the mayor reasserted the primacy of the executive branch over the PFPF, in a quest to protect taxpayer dollars, and to finally bring closure to this ongoing […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 18, 2016

On Monday, the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee deferred property donation and human trafficking signage bills, and OKd Project Rex, which is expected to bring an Amazon distribution center to Jacksonville. **** 2015-519, a bill that would allow change the city’s rules for property donation that has circulated for nine months now, was considered Monday […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 5, 2016

Beth McCague, interim executive director of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund, addressed the Jacksonville City Council Rules Committee on Tuesday, responding to charges levied in an email from Pension Fund gadfly Curtis Lee. McCague, who has patiently borne the brunt of Lee’s criticisms since she took the role, seemed to be at the end […]

Tag: Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund

Subpoenas with a side of sauce: The 10 biggest #JaxPol stories of 2016

Jacksonville CFO: money in $44M pension “waiver” is “hiccup” compared to total liability

Lenny Curry: Pension costs have ‘crippled’ Jacksonville

Jacksonville may face legal challenge on phasing out special pension plan

Jax General Counsel asserts primacy over JPFPF, via binding legal opinion

Jax General Counsel slams JPFPF subversion of his legal authority, city charter

Lenny Curry writes Pam Bondi, says Jax PFPF ‘ignore[s] the law’

Lenny Curry orders John Keane’s pension cut, litigation dismissed

Jax Council Finance Committee defers property donation, human trafficking bills, OKs Project Rex

Jax PFPF head Beth McCague addresses Rules Committee