By Times Union Editorial Board  |  Florida Times Union

Friday’s Editorial: Commentary on local elections, affordable housing, home rule and recent polls.

Recently, a group of Florida cities held local elections. If only Jacksonville had been one of them.

The cities of Orlando, St. Petersburg and Miami Beach held local elections as well as six Lake County cities and seven communities in Brevard County.

These off-year elections allow voters to focus solely on local issues, removing most of the distractions from state and national issues.

There is another good reason that Jacksonville elections need to be held in the fall, however.

Jacksonville’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

That means City Council members take office July 1 and are hit smack in the face with a budget from the consolidated city of Jacksonville, one of the most complex city budgets in the country.

It’s not fair to them or to good government. But that’s the poor system we have because previous city leaders were unwilling to change the local election date.

City Council also needs to stagger terms as the Duval County School Board has done, so that there is less of turnover every four years. That, too, would foster good government.

Release affordable housing funds

Now that the Duval legislative delegation has pushed forward a bill to hold a referendum on electing a school superintendent, City Council ought to provide the delegation with some constructive advice of its own.

Follow the lead of the city of Clearwater and ask the Legislature to stop raiding the affordable housing trust fund.

Florida has a brilliant solution for affordable housing issues. A portion of documentary stamp taxes is devoted to the Sadowski Fund.

So when housing prices increase, thus creating more affordability problems, trust fund revenue increases, too.

Yet the Legislature continues to raid the funds. Last year only 35 percent of trust funds went to housing, reported The Tampa Bay Times. The Senate’s budget left the funds intact but the House and the budget signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis raided them.

Affordable housing funds create jobs and boost the real estate and housing industries.

Stop the raids.

Restore home rule

For too many legislators, going to Tallahassee produces a kind of arrogance, a false sense of superiority.

Too often legislators interfere with local issues, pre-empting home rule.

Yet 80 percent of Floridians agree that local governments are better able to address local community needs, according to a new poll from Local Solutions Support Center.

And two-thirds of Floridians polled believe that lobbyists have more influence than citizens do. It’s a wonder that percentage isn’t higher.

There ought to be a citizen-led constitutional amendment that underscores home rule but then the Legislature would do its best to find loopholes.

Polling disparities

Polling from the respected Public Opinion Research Lab of the University of North Florida shows that the public disagrees with selling JEA and agrees with a sales tax for school facilities.

The fact that 59 percent oppose the sale of JEA seems low when compared to the overwhelmingly negative tone of letters that the Times-Union has received.

Would some citizens change their minds if offered something like a $1,000 voucher following a sale?

Several years ago, the Editorial Page was receiving largely negative letters about extending a sales tax to pay for pension debt, yet 65 percent of voters said yes.

But JEA is an entirely different case, with emotions running high among Jacksonville residents who consider it “their” utility.

As for the sales tax for schools, 74 percent of Duval County voters support it.

Granted, opposition at City Hall was more concerned with the timing of the referendum. There is a strong consensus that Duval County’s old school facilities need upgrading.

But once City Council got involved in the details, that killed the possibility of a referendum this year.

In the future, however, changes in the charter are needed to clarify the role of City Council.

It should not be a super School Board and should have only a token role in a school sales tax proposal.

The UNF poll, for instance, showed that crime is the No. 1 issue facing Jacksonville with education a distant second.

City Council could be spending more time on life-and-death issues, such as the city’s surging murder rate and its unacceptably high infant mortality rate.

Article last accessed here on November 15, 2019. A print-ready version is available here.