Jacksonville mayoral candidates make pitch to business leaders. Here's what they said

Six of the seven candidates for Jacksonville mayor pitched their policy ideas to the Northside Business Leaders Club Tuesday afternoon. The more intimate setting allowed candidates to speak more casually than during previous events, laughing at one another’s jokes and addressing each other directly.

With early voting already underway ahead of Tuesday's election, the candidates have one week to reach remaining undecided voters. All candidates except JAX Chamber CEO and Republican Daniel Davis attended Tuesday’s event.

Turnout has so far remained low at just under 9% Wednesday morning, with Democrats turning out in slightly higher numbers. If no candidate earns over 50% of the vote in March, the top two vote-getters will advance to the May runoff election.

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Here are three takeaways from the Jacksonville Northside Business Leader’s Club mayoral forum:

All candidates want to avoid increasing taxes

None of the six candidates said they would support increasing taxes – as has been done through a public vote with the local gas tax – for large-scale projects, including the potential Jaguars’ stadium renovation.

Former television news anchor and Democrat Donna Deegan said she saw no reason to raise taxes while the city had surplus funds. Instead, she said the city needed to bring money in through federal and state government grants.

Former state Sen. Audrey Gibson, the only other Democrat in the race, said she would refrain from raising taxes by trying to develop more tourism and working with Visit Jacksonville to determine what would keep people in the city longer. She said she would also support establishing more trust funds to create usable interest.

City Council member and Republican LeAnna Cumber, who has repeatedly stated her opposition to the gas tax in forums, said she did not support increasing taxes in part to support Gov. Ron DeSantis cutting taxes statewide and lowering regulations.

Fellow council member and Republican Al Ferraro said he would not support a tax increase because the city already had “more revenue than we’re actually using right now” that needed to be reallocated instead of “elected officials that are taking care of elected officials and their friends.”

Republican Frank Keasler and Omega Allen, the only candidate without party affiliation, called for examining the current budget to cut wasteful spending and ensure taxpayer money is being used properly.

Candidates want to re-establish some type of pension plan

Several of the candidates agreed the retirement packages available for certain city employees, such as police officers and firefighters, needed to be re-examined.

City Council voted for Mayor Lenny Curry’s pension reform in 2017, which incorporated a previously agreed voted on half-cent sales tax to pay off billions in pension debt and opted for 401(k)-style retirement plans in lieu of pensions.

More on pension plan vote:City Council says yes to Curry's pension reform package

Ferraro sat on City Council at the time. Both he and Cumber agreed Tuesday the Sheriff's Office was not able to retain officers with the current retirement package.

“The 401k simply isn’t working,” Cumber said Tuesday. She estimated JSO needed more than 400 officers and said the next mayor needed to look at pay and a different retirement package.

Ferraro said they needed to reestablish “some type of pension plan” because the city was already losing money on training officers who did not stay in the city. He also said they needed to expand ideas to include corrections officers and JEA linemen.

Gibson and Deegan likewise both said they supported Florida Retirement System plans, which would allow individuals to choose from a pension or an investment plan.

Switching to another system will be “crazy expensive” and necessary to retain talent, Deegan said, but doing so will also take a lot of work to “not go bankrupt as a city.”

Allen said she wanted to establish an internship program when cadets come out of training and have them sign a noncompete clause for a number of years, as well as offer “the best pension plan we can possibly offer.”

Keasler said the pension would fold into his overhaul of public safety systems into a “21st Sentry” program to give “better coverage for less premiums.”

Candidates were not surprised at Davis’ absence

Davis, the only candidate not to attend the forum, still had a presence.

Each candidate was asked what question they would pose to a different candidate. Both Cumber and Keasler had questions for Davis – they asked where he was.

“Everyone in this city should be asking the same question, ‘Why is it that Daniel Davis, who touts his leadership at the Chamber, why does he refuse to talk to the Daily Record, the Jacksonville Business Journal, the Times-Union?’” Cumber said. “Those should be lay-ups for him.”

Both Ferraro and Gibson told the Times-Union after the forum they were not surprised Davis did not attend.

Davis has been endorsed by Curry, Sheriff T.K. Waters and various city leaders, but he has not attended a number of forums and did not stay for a press conference after the televised debate March 8.

Davis has polled at around 20% in two recent local polls, second only to Deegan.

More on local poll results:Democrat Donna Deegan leads Daniel Davis in latest UNF poll for Jacksonville mayor's race

Deegan did not direct her hypothetical question directly to Davis, but told the Times-Union that she was not surprised at his absence. She said if the two of them are the candidates who advance to the May election, she hoped they could sit at other forums together.

“Why should we believe he'll be accountable, you know, once he is in office if he won't even show up for these things,” Deegan said. “So I'm hoping if I'm fortunate enough to make it into the next round, that we'll have opportunities to be together, to where people can see our visions side by side.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville mayoral candidates speak to Northside Business Leaders