Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 128 • Three Sections
Pension’s next stop is August ballot
A long road to new life
By David Chapman Staff Writer
Council
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Justin Brown had a great job that paid him six figures a year. He was ‘Money Justin.’ He thought he had it all. Until he realized he didn’t.
Council OKs Curry pension referendum
Now comes the hardest part. City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed Mayor Lenny Curry’s ballot initiative asking voters to extend a half-cent sales tax to pay down more than $2.8 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. The action served as a formality to get to the next — and maybe most difficult — step in the lengthy process: Having voters sign off on the idea, something they’ll consider on the Aug. 30 primary ballot. “It really is the only viable option we have that solves this problem once and for all,” Curry said earlier Tuesday. Council members have supported the plan since January when they passed a resolution to send the idea to the Legislature for approval. Now they will be counted on to go into the community and help sell the proposal to voters. The message, Curry said, needs to be how the extension finally cures the pension Curry woes that continue to eat away at annual budgets. This year the city contributed $260 million of its $1 billion budget toward pension costs. Next year, it’s expected to rise to more than $280 million and peak at more than $400 million over the next decade if nothing is done, the mayor said. The idea of the sales tax freeing up money annually for budgets was one Curry pitched early, saying it could provide as much as $100 million. That message has been muted in recent weeks. “If we get budget relief out of this, that’s an added benefit, that’s nice … but I am not looking for a pot of money to create new programs,” he said. Instead, that relief would go toward services like paving roads, hiring police
35¢
By Carole Hawkins
Justin Brown tells people the day he jumped out of a car that was traveling 45 mph was the day that saved his life. He broke his skull open and had emergency surgery. It was the first day of a years-long transformation that took him from a place of self-loathing to one of self-sacrifice. From a job that paid him six figures, but where he drank until he blacked out, to running Builders Care, which changes people’s lives by repairing their homes for free. The charitable arm of the Northeast Florida Builders Association helps people with critical home repairs. Brown came to Builders Care last summer. One of his selfimposed tasks is to build a list of every person who’s asked for help from the organization, to call them and to set priorities. Hundreds of names are already written in his notebook and the need appears endless. Builders Care’s bank account isn’t. Workspace continued on
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Justin Brown
Photo by Fran Ruchalski
Hemming stage advances; future money may be ‘hard sell’ By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Gulliford
Public
Building a permanent performance stage at Hemming Park took a step closer to reality Tuesday when the finer points of the proposal were clarified. Clarity was needed because the Friends of Hemming Park, the nonprofit contracted by the city to manage and program the park, proposes to use $250,000 from the city intended to finance park operations through Sept. 30 to build the stage. The group then would replace those funds with an advance
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payment from Community First Credit Union for a five-year, $250,000 naming rights agreement for the stage. “We got into some game-playing with the stage,” said City Council member Bill Gulliford, Finance Committee chair and co-sponsor of the legislation to transfer the funds to the Friends. “I don’t have heartburn with whatever happens. It’s all operations money,” he added. Wayne Wood, president of the Friends, said the issue has become even more complicated. The contractor being considered to build the stage might
donate up to $100,000 of the labor cost, he said. That would reduce the cost of the stage to $150,000. Daryl Joseph, director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, said if that were to happen, the $100,000 should be placed in a contingency account to be used only for future park improvements. That would be acceptable to the administration, said Mike Weinstein, Mayor Lenny Curry’s chief financial officer. “We are in this together as a partnership,” he said. Another issue is whether the
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Friends’ five-year contract will be renewed. If it’s not, the final two years of the naming rights sponsorship could be in question, since Community First’s agreement would be with the nonprofit, not the city. Council Vice President Lori Boyer said since the stage will be a capital improvement in the park, it will be city property. “It will exist even if the city and the Friends don’t renew the contract,” she said. Friends CEO Vince Cavin is confident the sponsor would Hemming
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