The Jacksonville City Council plans to look for money to put back in the Sheriff's Office, but there appears to be little appetite for finding that money through increasing the tax rate.
For now, council members are digging in for a 2½-month review of the budget proposal that Mayor Alvin Brown presented to them Monday.
In his speech — a mixture of budget details and a gloss on the state of the city — Brown trumpeted the fact that this budget, like last year's, doesn't raise taxes or fees or dip into reserves.
"I'm asking you to do the same," he said to the council.
The biggest challenge in balancing the budget is the $150 million the city has to spend on pension contributions, Brown said, a figure that will jump almost 50 percent between this fiscal year and next.
Live blog replay: Alvin Brown's budget address
That has led Brown to cut more than 500 positions, including several hundred that are filled. That includes 319 jobs in the Sheriff's Office, 130 of which are occupied. Among the cuts are 58 corrections officers, all 63 community service officers and nine other civilians; none of the cut jobs are sworn police officers.
Following Brown's speech, Sheriff John Rutherford continued his push for upping the property tax rate from 10.035 mills to 10.4 mills. Because of declining property values, the higher rate would bring in the same amount of money that 10.035 mills brought in this year.
"If you don't pay the same tax as last year, you won't have the same services as last year," he said.
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