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New UNF poll shows significant amount of support for half-cent sales tax

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Friday afternoon, state Sen. Audrey Gibson called on Jacksonville City Council members to come together for a special meeting Monday, June 24.

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She sent a letter out Friday afternoon asking to discuss the proposed referendum for a tax to fix the crumbling Duval County public schools.

The Duval County Public School District needs $1.8 million to repair and replace all of the schools in need.

This special meeting would have come ahead of the next City Council meeting June 25; the full council was originally set to address Bill 2019-380 (the half-cent sales tax referendum), but as of now, that’s no longer happening.

On Tuesday, when the Finance and Rules council committees met to discuss the bill, the Finance Committee voted to put it on the ballot in 2020 and the Rules Committee deferred the referendum, voting to hand it over to the incoming council members.

Related: School board passes plan for half-cent sales tax to upgrade Duval County schools

During that meeting, Councilwoman Joyce Morgan, who represents District 1, says the focus of council should have been to take up the bills they have right now, be present and do their jobs now.

“I recall four years ago, when I was watching you all's last council meeting and there were a number of bills you were working on and you were feverishly trying to do as much work as you could. That's what we're supposed to do. As much work as we can through our time here,” Morgan said.

Right now, the school board says it's at a standstill.

"Voters today don't know if nor when they will have the opportunity to weigh in on whether or not we should pass this referendum so that we can improve schools,” Lori Hershey told Action News Jax after Tuesday’s meeting.

Hershey is the chair of the Duval County School Board.

On Friday morning, a new University of North Florida poll showed seventy-five percent of Duval County registered voters support a half-cent sales tax increase.

Related: More than 6 dozen people show up to advocate for half-cent sales tax in City Council public hearing

Even down party lines, registered Democrats, Republicans and non-party affiliates all showed significant support for the tax.

Eighty-six percent of registered Democrats, sixty-one percent of registered Republicans and seventy-six percent of non-party affiliates who were polled supported the half-cent sales tax increase.

Action News Jax reporter Courtney Cole spoke to City Councilman Bill Gulliford, a member of the Finance and Rules committees.

Gulliford told Cole he doesn’t want to see the effort rushed.

"Hey, you know what, I'm for it, too! I'm overwhelmingly for it! But I want it to be done right. And that's the concern that I have as a city councilman,” said Gulliford.

Gulliford said the holdup for him is wanting to make sure the school district's proposal is fully vetted before turning it over to the voters.

Related: 'Children can't learn in a bad environment.': DCPS explains massive building maintenance backlog

While three-fourths of voters in this UNF poll support the idea of the half-cent sales tax itself, the numbers are a little different when it comes to deciding when the council should vote for this proposed referendum.

Thirty-four percent of registered voters said they want the special election to happen in November 2019.

Forty-nine percent of registered voters said they want the special election to happen in November 2020.

Seventeen percent said they didn’t want a referendum at all.

Gulliford said he’s seen poor planning with taxpayer money before with the Better Jacksonville Plan.

"There's still a couple hundred million dollars, probably, of projects that have not been done because people did not estimate the sales tax revenue properly—and we had shortfalls we had to make up in the general fund,” Gulliford told Cole.

When Cole asked him about students getting caught up in a game of politics, Gulliford said:

"I don't think it's a politics game. I think we're as concerned about our kids. I have three grandkids I take to school in Atlantic Beach. By the way, Atlantic Beach elementary was built in the 1930s. I take them to school about every morning. I get it,” Gulliford said.

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