JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville City Council voted Tuesday to allow Duval County voters to decide in November whether to create a half-cent sales tax that will be used to improve the city’s aging schools.
The decision ends a contentious battle between the Duval County School Board and City Hall, which blocked the School Board’s efforts to hold a referendum last year, that ultimately led to court. Placing the referendum on this November’s presidential ballot also makes good on a proposed settlement the city has reached with the school board to end the lawsuit.
The decision passed in an 18-to-1 vote. Although Councilman Rory Diamond was the lone no vote, several council members reluctantly approved the referendum but said they had major concerns with the School Board’s plan.
If passed, the tax would be in place for 15 years and generate $80 million a year. The school district plans to use the money to bankroll a $1.9 billion list of building improvements and technology upgrades. The district would also be required to proportionately share the money with charter schools as required by a state law that was passed earlier this year.
Last year, council members raised concerns about the school district’s plan to spend the money and refused to allow the referendum on the ballot until the district addressed their concerns. Some council members said they were concerned about certain projects on the list, while others said the school district needed to share more of the money with charter schools.
The School Board argued that state law required the council to put the referendum on the ballot and the attempts to change their plan was an overreach of the council’s authority. The council ultimately withdrew the legislation that would have created the referendum, which resulted in the school board filing a lawsuit. A group of parents of local students filed a separate lawsuit.
The city’s Office of General Counsel argued the city’s consolidated government structure prohibited the school district to hire attorneys and sue City Hall, although a court shut down that argument in January.
Roughly a month later, the Office of General Counsel reached a proposed settlement with the School Board, which agreed to drop its suit in exchange for the city putting the sales tax referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Councilman Aaron Bowman said he believed the half-cent sales tax could generate far more money than the school district has expected. He said he wished the school district would agree to cap the amount of money brought in, but since they haven’t, he wouldn’t support the referendum in November.
Councilman Michael Boylan said he had doubts the referendum would pass and urged the school board to address the concerns raised by Bowman and form an advisory committee to oversee the money. Council members Al Ferraro and LeAnna Cumber said they echoed those concerns, with Ferraro also raising doubts the referendum would pass.
In other news, the council also approved seven new members of JEA’s board of directors. All seven members stepped down earlier this year in the wake of the controversial attempt to sell the city-owned utility and the board’s approval of a lucrative bonus plan that could have paid employees hundreds of millions of dollars if JEA was sold.
The controversies triggered a probe by State Attorney Melissa Nelson, who announced in January that she handed the case to federal investigators.
The new board of directors is now comprised of the following people:
- John Baker, chief executive officer of FRP Holdings Inc. Baker donated $161,000 to Curry’s reelection campaign.
- Joseph DiSalvo, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General and principal for two consulting firms based outside Washington, D.C.
- A. Zachary Faison, president and chief executive officer of Edward Waters College.
- Leon Haley, chief executive officer of UF Health Jacksonville.
- Marty Lanahan, executive vice president and regional president for Iberia Bank. Lanahan was a JEA board member from 2001 to 2005. She was the board’s chair in 2004.
- Robert Stein, president of the Regency Group.
- Tom VanOsdol, senior vice president, Ascension Florida.