The Stadium of the Future project comes with a $2 billion price tag shared between the City of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Jaguars, and there reportedly have been discussions within the mayor's office of using money from the city's two pension funds to help pay for the renovations.
"It's our responsibility to look at any possible mechanism to meet our obligation," lead negotiator and counsel for the mayor's office Mike Weinstein told Jacksonville's NBC- and ABC-affiliated First Coast News. We got to do what's best for the city."
One of those ideas is using money from the Police and Fire Pension Fund and the General Employee Pension Fund. Weinstein said the funds currently have a combined total of $5 billion.. Instead of investing money in other places, such as the stock market or real estate, the pension funds would invest in the city.
“If the pension fund basically provided dollars as an investment to the city, the city would pay back the pension fund, and the interest that their target was,” Weinstein explained.
Jacksonville Jaguars Reveal Plans For HOK-Designed Stadium Of The Future.https://t.co/TbbmvlH7rS pic.twitter.com/bVVMpyehZG
— ParametricArchitecture (@parametricarch) June 11, 2023
As reported by Riley Phillips of First Coast News, Weinstein said this would keep the money local since the city owns the pension funds. The city would pay back the money at a rate that meets the pension funds' targets. This would also skip the usual fees associated with borrowing money elsewhere. Weinstein added it could help the city close the pension funds quicker, which could mean an earlier end to the half penny sales tax that was extended to cover the pension deficit.
"Our ultimate goal is to get the pension fund closed as quickly as possible. So even if it costs us a little bit more money to pay them rather than pay a bondholder, we'd be paying ourselves," Weinstein said.
City Council president Ron Salem said he needs to see how it benefits the city compared to other payment options. “The response I've gotten initially from some people is they're concerned about dipping into the pension funds," he said. "I need to understand the costs, the cost difference between the bonding versus using the pension funds."
The Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police and the Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters declined to comment, but representatives told First Coast News they are watching this closely.
Weinstein said the pension boards would have a say on whether they approve of this payment method before it even gets off the ground, and assuming it does, they could cancel at any time.
"If the pension fund years down the road, if we did this, felt that they didn't want it to be this way any longer, they can call and we'd have to give them their money back. And then we'd go to the bondholders in the financial market to get the money," Weinstein said.
