Tomorrow is a huge day for the future of our city. No matter what side of the budget debate you fall on, you have to be a bit apprehensive. If City Council votes against the Mayor’s tax increase, will the outcome be as dire as the mayor forecasts? Will cuts to cultural institutions, the shuttering of the LaVilla Theater, the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission and more set our city back culturally for years to come?

Today the 16 member 19 member City Council will vote on the issue of raising property taxes to avoid cutting Public Safety, City Services and Social/Cultural/Events. It’s going to be a real nail biter too. Tia Mitchell reports the council is literally divided on the issue:

Nine of the 16 council members reached last week told the Times-Union they’re leaning toward supporting Mayor John Peyton’s proposal for now, setting the tax rate at 9.5 mills – a 12 percent increase.

Regardless of the outcome there are those in the city who will carry on the fight for cultural enhancement, despite (or in spite of) those who would trade culture in our city for lower or no taxes.

Let’s say after all is said and done, Council does not approve the tax increase, what next? Peyton can veto the bill or refuse to sign, but so far he hasn’t indicated what his plans are if the hike is rejected.

Some more links on the topic

City Council divided on property tax (Jacksonville.com)
Has the budget crisis spawned a ‘new’ Mayor Peyton? (Jacksonville.com)
Yarborough: cut arts and social service funding (Folio Blog)
Pension Tensions (Shelton Hull)
More links on the budget

Jacksonville.com is sponsoring a series of live chats with the Mayor over the coming weeks and they’re encouraging people to interact in many ways. Ine of the more interesting is posting a video question for the Mayor on YouTube.

How to Record a Video Response

Go here to post a video response. If you have a newer model computer with an integrated webcam, you’ll be good to go. Otherwise you might have to record and upload your own video.

Here is my video response, complete with radical speech to video delay. Oh well, at least I don’t have my eyes closed. Ha!

Thanks to Josh Walls for asking this interesting question and bringing up a point I think a lot of homeowners in the city might be asking themselves:

Here are a few more ways you can participate.

Topics and schedule are as follows:

• Friday, July 17 (noon – 1pm) Public Works & Taxes
• Monday, July 20 (11am – noon) Parks & Recreation
• Tuesday, July 21 (11am – noon) Arts & Culture
• Wednesday, July 22 (11am – noon) Public Safety & Jax Journey
• Friday, July 24 (noon – 1pm) Employee Costs & Staffing Levels

I would say new media is already shaping the Jacksonville budget conversation. If you read this weeks post from Metro Jacksonville, First Official Blogger Conference at City Hall, you can see how.

This was one of those moments where the City was well served and represented. Both by an Administration opening up to the new times, and by the representatives of those New Times themselves.

It was an unprecedented move by the city to solicit feedback from new media influencers and tastemakers in Jacksonville. I have no doubt many of our recommendations were noted and will be implemented.

While I won’t go into detail on what was said I will express my own opinion on the budget debate. I am for the millage increase. To me this sums it up.

We haven’t had a property tax increase in many years, even while inflation and the cost of city services continued to rise. Do opponents of the budget increase really think taxes will and should stay at their current levels? Should Jacksonville alway have some of the lowest tax rates in the state even while we are pushing the development boundaries of the largest landmass city in the U.S.? If not now then when? We can’t sustain the city without increasing taxes. Period. If anyone has a counter argument, I’d love to hear it.

Yesterday the city launched a massive public conversation campaign or maybe it started earlier with JaxObserver’s first show featuring Mayor Peyton.

You’re likely to hear the words budget, millage, increase, stupid and tea bag ad-nauseam for the next couple of weeks, so let’s get started. Here a selection of events and conversation circling the announcement today:

Tracking Budget News

I’ve created an RSS feed to track budget news, stories and info. You can get the budget RSS feed here.

Important Upcoming Budget Events

July 13, 2009 Mayor Peyton presents his proposed budget to City Council. 10 a.m., Council Chambers, City Hall (117 W. Duval Street)

July 21st, 2009 the Mayor will appear on Urban Jacksonville Weekly. Tune in live July 21st. Start sending your questions in now!

1. Tweet your question using the #ujw hashtag or mention Urban Jacksonville Weekly in your tweet
2. Leave a question on the Urban Jacksonville Facebook page
3. Leave a comment on Urban Jacksonville or email urbanjacksonvilleweekly@gmail.com

In addition to appearing on UJW, the Mayor will participate in a series of live video webcast and chats, hosted by UJW broadcasting partner Jacksonville.com. These will live blogged by the talented Tia Mitchell and moderated by someone, not sure who yet. There are also plans for users to submit YouTube questions prior to the webcasts.

July 28, 2009 City Council votes on maximum millage 5 p.m., Council Chambers City Hall (117 W. Duval Street)

Budget Tweets (newest to oldest)

polkadotz: Coming in tomorrow’s TU: The urgency of audience. Mayor Peyton’s drive to convince a divided public on taxes.

coj_tweeters: @urbanjax AMIOs are special appointed employees paid on avg about $70,000/yr. Jaxpolitics did recent post on them: http://tiny.cc/DfXFM

urbanjax: COJ should remove Media and FAQ main nav until they have content. Media FAQ

polkadotz: Wondering if it would be more effective for cops to not boycott Gate, but break into mayor’s office and decorate it with Hess toys.

JacksonvillNews: Sulzbacher Center Fears Proposed City Budget Cuts – First Coast News: http://bit.ly/1mIJFy (Note: I love the way FCN allows people to share their videos, FAIL) and How Budget Cuts Would Impact Sulzbacher Center

coj_tweeters: Budget savings? Cut 166 AMIOs making over $11 million in salary. Mayor promised to reform AMIOs when elected, but hasn’t kept promise.

gotv63: Mayor Peyton speaking to Dalton Agency staff meeting about his FixItNow campaign.

Trending on: happn_in_jacks: mayor peyton’s

thewayhome: Email city council president Richard Clark at RClark@coj.net and tell him you oppose the city’s proposed Sulzbacher Center budget cuts.

jax_just_in: Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton invites residents to discuss city budget http://tinyurl.com/nuaxr7

Jacksonville’s Budget Shaping Debates around Town and with JCCI

Lunch with the Mayor

Beginning next week, the mayor will host five lunch meetings from noon-1p.m. at area libraries. Residents are invited to bring their own lunch. Locations across the city have been selected for proximity to some of
the community’s larger business parks/complexes and residential areas to allow for easier access. The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, July 16
Brown-Eastside Branch Library, 1390 Harrison St. call (904) 630-5466

Monday, July 27
Jacksonville Main Library, conference center multi-purpose room, 303 N. Laura St. call at (904) 630-2665

Thursday, Aug. 6
Pablo Creek Regional Library, 13295 Beach Blvd. call at (904) 992-7101

Tuesday, Aug. 11
Southeast Regional Library, 10599 Deerwood Park Blvd. call at (904) 996-0325

Wednesday, Aug. 26
Mandarin Regional Library, 3330 Kori Road call at (904) 262-5201

Town Halls with the Mayor

Also beginning next week, the mayor will host three town hall meetings in various locations across the community. All residents are invited to attend. All meetings will be held in the evening from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 16
Ed White High School cafeteria, 1700 Old Middleburg Road call at (904) 693-7620

Monday, July 20
Edward Ball Building, 1st floor training room, 214 N. Hogan St. call at (904) 630-CITY (2489)

Monday, Aug. 3
Ribault High School media center, 3701 Winton Drive call at (904) 924-3092

A timely lunchtime conversation on Our Money, Our City: Financing Jacksonville’s Future with Study Chair, J.F. Bryan IV

What kind of city do you want to live and work in? JCCI’s City Finance Study has become central to this year’s city budget debates, getting to the core question of just what quality of life our community wants. You will have unprecedented opportunities to contribute to answering that question in the coming weeks. Please join us for JCCI’s:

Wednesday, July 29th from 12:00 to 1:00 pm @ JCCI- 2434 Atlantic Blvd. Please feel free to bring your lunch. Drinks and desserts will be provided. RSVP to Earlene at earlene@jcci.org by Monday, July 27 or call 396-3052.

credit: mtsofan

Today Mayor Petyon announced to local business owners that he would propose an increase in the millage rate by 1.2 mils to avoid a 65 million dollar shortfall next year. This would be the first millage rate increase in over 17 years.

The Millage Rate is just a fancy name for the property tax rate:

The tax rate is referred to as the millage. The millage varies by taxing district within the county. Each taxing district’s total millage is comprised of individual millages determined by multiple taxing authorities operating within that district. Public meetings to determine the individual millages are held in September.

Much clearer now huh? Wikipedia defines the tax rate as “a tax on real estate made up of two components—the improvement or building value, and the land or site value.”

Multiply the property value by the millage (tax) rate and that’s the amount of taxes you pay COJ. There, much easier.

It sounds like the Mayor is getting ready for September (see above) when there are public meetings to determine the individual millages. So even if the rates do go up, you’re likely to not have a bigger tax payment until the next fiscal year.

I can’t help but think this is a good and long overdue thing for the city. Even though, if it passes, I will most likely have to move my family from where we live now as we’ll no longer be able to afford the taxes on our home.

UPDATE: My wonderful wife pointed out that it would only be ano ther couple hundred dollar per year and that I was overreacting. Let that be a lesson to the PR people spinning this out to the public. Break it down and point out the monthly impact with rate tables so people can see based on their home value, what the monthly will be.

Even so, it’s a harsh reality, that will be difficult for some people to deal with. I’m not looking forward to paying another couple hundred per year, but it’s for the good of the city right?

In the same Wikipedia article a case is made that traditional property taxes actually encourage sprawl. Our city is currently dealing with unchecked growth, so there may be some optional taxation models we can review.

In the absence of urban planning policies, property tax on real estate changes the incentives for developing land, which in turn affects land use patterns. The market value of undeveloped real estate reflects a property’s current use as well as its development potential. As a city expands, relatively cheap and undeveloped lands (such as farms, ranches, private conservation parks, etc.) increase in value as neighboring areas are developed into retail, industrial, or residential units.

This raises the land value, which increases the property tax that must be paid on agricultural land, but does not increase the amount of revenue per land area available to the owner. This, along with a higher sale price, increases the incentive to rent or sell agricultural land to developers. On the other hand, a property owner who develops a parcel must thereafter pay a higher tax, based on the value of the improvements. This makes the development less attractive than it would otherwise be. Overall, these effects result in lower density development, which tends to increase sprawl.

It’s interesting to consider, but there isn’t much actionable we can do. The city is in a pickle right now and we need to find a way out.

So far the Jacksonville Twitterverse has not reacted to this proposed rate hike. I suspect all heck will break loose once the Mayor announces this and it hits the 5 o’ clock news. We obviously need to hear what the Mayor has to say before we react, so I’ll reserve judgement until the press conference.

This is a quick post to let you know Springfield is dedicating the new Confederate Dog Park tonight at 5:30.

Update: the dog park ribbon ceremony has been moved to Friday, June 12 5:30 p.m. There are lots of other things to do on this First Friday of June.

Today would also be a good day to follow me on Twitter and/or the Urban Jacksonville Facebook page. I have really been enjoying Facebook lately. It’s like Twitter with photos and discussion. Come hang out.

NOTE: At 9am I’ll be live Tweeting the Mayors appearance on WJCT’s In Context: Week In Review

Council member Johnny Gaffney along with the Springfield Improvement Association and Women’s Club, Springfield Animal Care and Rescue Club, and the City of Jacksonville’s Department of Recreation and Community Services (JaxParks) for a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the new Confederate Park Dog Park. All dogs and their owners are invited to attend.

View Larger Map

Friday, June 5 at 5:30 PM
Confederate Park,
956 Hubbard Street
Info: Mercedes Parker at 630-3541 or Mercedes@coj.net.

Here’s a collection of reactions to the Mayor’s Thursday press conference announcing his plans for the final two years of office.

Jacksonville mayor calls for salary freeze
This was also mentioned in the press conference but received no questions or comments during the QA with reporters and business leaders.

Chief among the city’s financial woes is the pension contribution, which Peyton said will cost taxpayers $275,000 a day.

Mayor John Peyton: Investing in Jacksonville’s Future via Metro Jacksonville who also live blogged yesterday’s announcements

Mayor John Peyton’s complete presentation “Investing in Jacksonville’s Future” outlines his focus for downtown in his final two years in office.

Peyton shifting priority to downtown, riverfront

He didn’t have cost estimates for the wide array of projects, which are still conceptual. They range from developing a downtown gateway from the Brooklyn area to extending the Northbank and Southbank riverwalks.

Peyton’s downtown vision has considerable potential

Big dreams? Sure. But some of the work could begin now with money that had been set aside for public improvements in Brooklyn, where proposed development is off the table for now because of the bad real estate market.

One Jacksonville Politics blog contributor is not buying Peyton’s plan

The recently released Council Auditor’s report identifies millions of dollars in funding shortfalls (6.7 million of them to be exact) and the Mayor wants to revamp Metropolitan Park and Friendship Park?

Listen this week as I fumble through moderating a political discussion with Abel Harding of JaxPoliticsOnline.com. Abel talks political circles around me, it’s awesome. Tune in next week when our guest is Matt Urigh of BikeJax.org

Topics

• Trail Ridge Council Meeting
• Courthouse could begin construction this week
• Mayor’s lame duck status (and how he can leave a lasting impact)

Recommendations

• Joey: Diplo this Saturday at TSI
• Jonathan: SMCJax
• Tony: JaxBeard
• Abel Harding from JaxPolitics: Dottie Dorian Art Show

Topics

• New Plans for Cafe Carmon
• RAMifications of too many artists in Jacksonville
• Mayor’s got a Facebook account

Recommendations

• Joey: Wired Magazine – May Issue with guest Editor J.J. Abrams
• Jonathan: Follow @editormarilyn on Twitter. Assistant managing editor for the The Florida Times-Union.
• Tony: RAP Tour of Homes April 25th and 26th

Show Links

• Jax Politics – jaxpoliticsonline.com Abel Harding from Jax Politics will be in the studio next week as our guest host.
• Couple eager to remake Cafe Carmon into go-to spot
• Sign up for Riverside Arts Market email list
• John Peyton Facebook page