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City Council member Matt Carlucci said Friday he favors taking $150 million from a proposed Skyway conversion project and using the money instead for adding the long-planned Emerald Trail to the list of projects that would be financed by doubling Jacksonville s local gas tax. The shift has full backing from Mayor Lenny Curry, his chief of staff Jordan Elsbury said. From a policy perspective, the mayor has always supported funding the Emerald Trail, Elsbury said. This is a revenue source that can cover it and the mayor is 100 percent supportive of the amendment. That amendment to the gas tax legislation would still leave the Jacksonville Transportation Authority with $229 million in the Jobs for Jax project list for turning the elevated structure where Skyway trains run into a system that uses autonomous vehicles that also can operate on city streets. ....
Two Jacksonville City Council members said Thursday it would be best for voters to make the call on whether to raise the local gas tax by putting that choice on the ballot in a countywide referendum. Council members Aaron Bowman and LeAnna Cumber said they would support having the referendum, marking the first time any council members have said that should be the route for a decision. I can honestly tell you I ve gotten zero emails or calls supporting this initiative and I ve gotten hundreds saying Please don t do this to me, Bowman said during a special meeting. Some other council members spoke in favor increasing the gas tax during the meeting devoted to the Jobs for Jax proposal put forward by Mayor Lenny Curry and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority for doing $930 million of road, drainage and transit projects. ....
After at-times heated debate Tuesday evening, the Jacksonville City Council withdrew a controversial measure that would have eliminated a local requirement that the Duval County Health Department director be a physician. The bill is expected to be reintroduced later and referred to multiple council committees the initial measure was only discussed by one for extensive discussion and public input. Let all the parties involved talk about it, City Council President Tommy Hazouri said. I don t know why it s emotional … but it seems to be. The bill was intended to help fill the local director position that has been vacant since 2018. The hiring difficulty stems from a city ordinance that requires the department director to be a physician, not just have public health training, the only such mandate in the state, according to Stephanie Burch, the city deputy chief administrative officer. ....
Duval County Public Schools collected almost $7 million in its first month of half-cent sales tax revenue, Superintendent Diana Greene said. Greene said the school district received its first installment $6,689,011 from sales tax revenue at the end of March. A district spokesman said they expect to see February s installment soon. Initial projections from the school district anticipated between $6.6 and $8 million per month over the course of the 15-year tax. Of that $6,689,011 collected, $922,541.99 will go to charter schools within the district. New state legislature entitles charter schools to sales tax revenue on a per-student basis. We are neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic about the first collections in January, Spokesman Tracy Pierce said. This is a 15-year funding program being launched in a pandemic impacted economy. January is just the first data point. We are excited to be moving forward with the building plan as presented to the voters. ....
A joint meeting between the Jacksonville City Council and the Duval County School board was recessed just after starting Friday morning due to a disturbance. ....