Council Opposes Mayor’s Tax Hike

Abel Harding

In a surprise twist, the Jacksonville City Council voted Tuesday night 10-9 to maintain the city's current millage rate. In previous conversations with Tia Mitchell of The Florida Times-Union, nine Council members had come out in favor of a higher millage rate and seven had stated their opposition--three Council members had not responded.  Of the three who did not respond, two voted maintain the current maximum rate and one voted to increase it.  However, Councilman Ray Holt changed his previously stated position and voted in favor of maintaining the lower millage rate.  His support for the lower cap set up the dramatic 10-9 defeat for the Mayor's proposed maximum millage rate.

After the vote, the Mayor told the Times-Union that he would not sign the legislation, ensuring that the maximum millage rate will increase, just not to the amount the Mayor was looking for.

The dramatic vote sets up what is certain to be a contentious budget process.  All nineteen council members are certain to face pressure from voters to negotiate concessions with some of the most powerful unions in the city.  At the same time, they are likely to face resistance to any significant cuts in human services funding.

Check back for more on this story tomorrow...

Tags: Jacksonville City Council, John Peyton, Local Politics, Millage Rate, Ray Holt

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 7:43 PM and is filed under Local Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.