JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A measure that would allow JTA to borrow up to $30 million from its share of the local option gas tax is set for a final vote next Tuesday after clearing its final council committee Tuesday afternoon.
JTA would have to fully replenish its local option gas tax fund by no later than September 30th of 2037.
Before it was unanimously advanced by the Council Finance Committee, Councilmember Rory Diamond (R-District 13) , who serves as the council’s liaison to JTA, argued it’s unfortunate the city has to make this move, but there’s no other viable option on the table.
“If they don’t do that, they’re going to have to fire more people, close more lines, and fewer people are going to be able to get to school and to work,” said Diamond.
It comes as the agency faces a nearly $39 million budget shortfall, which has already resulted in nearly 200 employees being laid off, reduced bus services and the upcoming suspension of Skyway and NAVI services.
JTA has made presentations in all of the four standing council committees over the past two days.
In those presentations, the agency attributed its financial decline to over-optimistic revenue projections and a failure to fully budget for the cost of services.
Looking ahead, the agency asserts it’s well positioned to start moving in the right direction.
Council Finance Chair Will Lahnen (R-District 3) said that with a new CFO at the helm, he trusts that claim.
“So, hopefully they start having a little bit left at the end of each month that they can then build up their cash and their reserves because they depleted a lot of those reserves when they were having these huge deficit headwinds,” said Lahnen.
Meanwhile, Mayor Donna Deegan issued an executive order Tuesday morning aimed at addressing the financial oversight of all of the city’s independent authorities, including JTA.
It encourages board appointees overseeing those authorities to undergo financial training.
She also called on the council to pass legislation making that training mandatory.
“Our board members are citizen volunteers who give their time to serve this city, and they deserve every tool we can provide them to do that job well,” said Deegan in a statement. “Taxpayers deserve confidence that the people overseeing their money understand the budgets, audits, and ethics rules in front of them.
Upon hearing the news, Lahnen seemed skeptical.
He argued those aren’t skills board members should be learning on the job.
“I’m of the belief we should be appointing board members that don’t need financial training,” said Lahnen. ”We should be looking at our business community, look at people that run businesses, worked in large companies, have a transportation finance type background or operations background.”
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