JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – During his campaign for mayor, Lenny Curry promised he would complete an audit of Jacksonville's city budget within 90 days of taking office. A draft version of that report is complete and the full audit should be available in about a week.
Among the findings of the audits was that the city is short on funds and needs to come up with other streams of revenue.
After looking at the preliminary audit, Curry is not talking about a tax increase, but said other options need to be discussed.
DOCUMENT: Ernst & Young draft assessment of city of Jacksonville's financial condition
We talked to Curry about that. Right now he's not talking about a new tax
"We've got a real financial crisis before us that relates to unfunded pension liabilities (and) a whole host of other things. ... I'm committed to solving the unfunded pension liability," Curry said. "We got a conceptual idea in place that we will need help with Tallahassee that does not include a new tax, but we have to have a plan a Plan B (and) Plan C, because we have to solve this one way or the other."
A Pension Fund Task Force and group of City Council members have suggested a sales tax to address pension funding. The city would need permission from Tallahassee before enacting a sales tax.