Officials says a revenue growth limit would hurt the group's efforts.
By Charlie Patton, The Times-Union
Already concerned about how Jacksonville is going to pay for the proposals that will emerge from the Jacksonville Journey's various committees, the members of the anti-crime panel's funding committee found out Monday that Duval County Tax Collector Mike Hogan is sponsoring a state measure that could make that even tougher.
Hogan, who serves on the statewide tax commission to recommend changes to the Florida Constitution, is sponsoring a proposal calling for an amendment on the November general election ballot to cap local tax revenues.
Under a complicated formula that takes into account population growth and the consumer price index, Jacksonville would probably be limited to revenue growth of 5 percent to 7 percent a year, said Adam Hollingsworth, chief of staff for Mayor John Peyton, who created the anti-crime panel.
That "might sound like a reasonable, healthy rate of growth," said Susie Wiles, Peyton's communications chief and a member of the Jacksonville Journey funding committee. In fact, the average rate of growth in revenues during Peyton's first five years in office has been 5.5 percent.
But Jacksonville's financial obligations are growing faster than its revenues, she said.
With the city already expecting to take a revenue hit of $40 million to $60 million because of recently passed property tax reform, additional restrictions on the way in which local revenues can be raised will "take home rule out of the equation" and leave Jacksonville "unable to pay our bills," Wiles said.
Last week, city lobbyists convinced a tax commission subcommittee to exempt cities with consolidated governments from Hogan's proposal. Jacksonville is the only consolidated city in the state.
But after the subcommittee approved that exemption, Hogan asked it to reconsider, and Jacksonville withdrew the request, lobbyist John Thrasher told the committee.
Hogan said he opposed the exemption because it would apply only to Jacksonville and would make his bill seem "self-serving."
He said his proposal now includes a provision that would allow a city council, with a 75 percent vote, to override a revenue cap.
Jacksonville sought the exemption because consolidated government has built-in tax savings that other governments don't, Thrasher said.
Without that exemption, Hogan's proposal "treats Jacksonville like every other county in the state when we have historically done a good job of managing our budget," said Michael Munz, a member of the funding committee.
Hogan, a former City Council member, agreed that Jacksonville has done a better job than many cities of handling its revenues. He said he is open to amending his proposal, which has been approved by the commission's subcommittee, to allow some relief to cities like Jacksonville that have been fiscally responsible.
But in general, he said, most local governments have had an irresponsible "send it, we'll spend it" approach.
"I think it's interesting and unbelievable that Mike Hogan is creating this problem," said Tom Petway, chairman of the committee looking at ways to pay for Jacksonville Journey recommendations.
Petway said that while the mood statewide may be to cut taxes, that mood isn't necessarily shared in Jacksonville. An example is Amendment 1, which increased property tax exemptions, capped increases in assessments and made exemptions portable. The measure passed handily statewide but didn't draw a majority in Duval County.
charlie.patton@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4413
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