Money trail from the city to the Chamber is intriguing
In what could be an amazing coincidence, it appears that since Mayor Lenny Curry took office, the city of Jacksonville has been paying the salary of Curry’s heir apparent. Timing is everything. In 2015, Curry was elected mayor of Jacksonville. Also in 2015, the Jacksonville Chamber received $200,000 from the Jacksonville annual budget. Since 2015, […]
It is time to re-evaluate local mass transit plans
In 1985, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) received more than $23 million from the federal government to build the Skyway Express. City Council had worked hard to get this grant. From 2009 to 2016 Duval taxpayers subsidized the Skyway by more than $90 million. They also subsidized JTA by an additional $560 million in that […]
Details about the budget finances are important
Here are two facts about the local government finances: Mayor Lenny Curry is not “cutting taxes.” The budget Curry is proposing to the City Council is not $1.55 billion. This is not nit-picking, it is clarifying information that is important. When the local government send out a tax bill, it is based on two factors: […]
Tax money is gone with the rain
I have lived in Clay County more than nine years and during that entire time have seen tax dollars literally being washed away every time it rains. The county Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining and repairing the county’s more than 200 miles of dirt roads. Reviewing the 2021-22 fiscal year budget, Eye on […]
Duval Schools Enrollment Tumbling: Costs Skyrocket
Hungry for money, Duval Schools have shown their insatiable appetite for tax increases and lavish spending. Over two billion dollars a year are spent in regular operations, another two billion recently approved via referendum for capital improvements, and they are asking for another $81 million a year in ad valorem taxes in the upcoming August […]
Curry is cutting a thin slice of pie for the voters
Mayor Lenny Curry will present his proposed budget for the coming year Thursday and has promised a tax cut. Sort of. The city’s general fund largely is funded by property taxes. Because of a healthy increase in property values – about $10 billion worth – the city is rolling in dough. If the tax rate […]
Radical spending and falling enrollment in Duval Schools
First, let me warn you, we are going to talk about math here. Second, you will want to be sitting down when you see where the cost to educate a single child has gone in our local school system. It’s not pretty. Today, taxpayers spend a staggering $19,648 every year for every student in the […]
Bad ideas never die in Jacksonville
Politicians get hooked on federal money just like crackheads get hooked on dope. Jacksonville is no exception and the Skyway Express is the best example. Some 50 years ago, the U.S. Urban Mass Transit Administration got its hands on a pile of your money and decided to dole it out in what it said would […]
Strange: It turns out that Floridians will tax themselves
Clever politicians in Florida have learned that although people don’t like taxes heaped on them by the government they usually are willing to tax themselves when given the chance. It is a rather astonishing phenomenon, but three out of four times people will vote to raise their own taxes. We have seen it twice in […]
Mayor’s economic legerdemain (google it) may be less than it seems
Mayor Lenny Curry took a victory lap recently after Jacksonville refinanced some bonds, saving some money. Refinancing is a routine occurrence, but Curry made it seem like wizardry. “Yesterday’s overwhelming success in the market is proof that investors across the nation have confidence in Jacksonville’s surging economy and well-managed finances,” Curry said in a press […]