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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Stadium of the Future negotiations are still on track, according to Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, chief negotiator. However, there are discussions about using money from the city’s two pension funds to pay for the renovations.
The Stadium of the Future project comes with a $2 billion price tag, split 50-50 between the city of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The mayor’s office has been negotiating with the Jags in recent months to try to come up with a mutually beneficial agreement.
Mike Weinstein, chief negotiator and advisor to the mayor’s office, said the city is looking for creative ways to pay for the renovations.
“It’s our responsibility to explore all mechanisms to meet our obligations. We have to do what’s best for the city,” Weinstein said.
One way is to utilize funds from the Police and Fire Pension Fund and the General Employees’ Pension Fund. Weinstein said the funds now have total assets of $5 billion. Instead of investing money elsewhere, such as in the stock market or real estate, pension funds will invest in cities.
“If the pension fund essentially provided dollars as an investment to the city, the city would be repaying the pension fund and the interest it was targeting,” Weinstein explained.
Weinstein said this keeps the money local because the city owns the pension fund. The city plans to pay back the money at an interest rate that meets the pension fund’s goals. This also eliminates the usual fees associated with borrowing money elsewhere. Weinstein added that this could allow the city to close the pension fund sooner and could mean an early end to the half-penny sales tax that was extended to make up for pension shortfalls.
“Our ultimate goal is to close down the pension fund as quickly as possible, so even if it costs us a little more to pay the pension fund than it does to the bondholders, we are willing to pay our own way,” Weinstein said. You will have to pay for it,” he said.
The idea is still in the very early stages of discussion, but City Council President Ron Salem agreed, saying the city needs to see how it benefits the city compared to other payment options. said.
“The initial response we got from some people was that they were concerned about dipping into pension funds. They needed to understand the cost, the difference in cost between using bonds and using pension funds. Yes,” Salem said.
The Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police and the Jacksonville Firefighters Association are not commenting on the idea at this time, but representatives told First Coast News they are monitoring it closely.
Weinstein said if the idea were to become part of the agreement, both the city and the pension board would have the opportunity to “make a call” or cancel the agreement.
“Years from now, if we do something like this and the pension fund feels it can’t go on like this any longer, they can call and we have to give them their money back. That’s what we’ll do,’ go to bondholders in the financial markets and raise money,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein added that the pension committee will also have a say in whether to approve this payment method before it gets off the ground.
A formal agreement has not yet been reached between the mayor’s office and the Jags regarding the entire project. Once decided, it will be submitted to the City Council. Weinstein said he still hopes to run for City Council by summer 2024.
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