The Senate is preparing to take up the House tax package, but new language in an amendment filed to HB 7073 would strike out a provision that worried some in Duval County.
The Sen. Blaise Ingoglia amendment does many things, yet one thing is paramount to Jacksonville. It removes language that suggested the city would need referendums every decade to renew its discretionary sales surtax that was passed on behalf of the Better Jacksonville Plan, but is slated to be extended to the city's unfunded pension liability.
The now excised language in question stipulated that the "pension liability surtax imposed pursuant to this subsection shall terminate on December 31 of the year in which the actuarial funding level is expected to reach or exceed 100 percent for the defined benefit retirement plan or system for which the surtax was levied or December 31 of the tenth year after the surtax was approved in a referendum under this subsection, whichever occurs first."
House Speaker Paul Renner said last month regarding the language poised to be cut that "it was absolutely not written with Jacksonville in mind," noting that Jacksonville's pension is a "different deal" than what that language contemplated.
The pension reform scheme enacted last decade closed the city's defined benefit pension plan to new entrants in 2016, but the future tax was framed as an asset to offset that debt.
Pension funds have gotten a new focus in Jacksonville in recent weeks amid the Donna Deegan administration exploring using pension fund assets to finance upcoming renovations to the Jaguars' stadium, work that will be necessary to keep the team in town past the end of the current lease.
A representative of the administration suggests that the city could pay the pension fund back, guaranteeing a rate of return that meets pension fund benchmarks, and avoiding financing costs that would come by pursuing financing on the bond market.
Meanwhile, Truth in Accounting says that "over the last year, Jacksonville's financial condition worsened by $984.6 million, resulting in a Taxpayer Burden of $11,200, earning it a 'D' grade."
One major issue, notes the analysis, is the city's massive pension problem.
"Jacksonville had set aside only 47 cents for every dollar of promised pension benefits and only 11 cents for every dollar of promised retiree health care benefits."
The city "had $4.5 billion available to pay $8.1 billion worth of bills," creating a "$3.5 billion shortfall, an increase of $984.6 million from the prior year and a burden of $11,200 per taxpayer."
No comments:
Post a Comment