Council Considers Fee Change

Hate getting the stormwater and solid waste fees in your mailbox? One proposal Jacksonville's City Council is considering would consolidate those fees into your property tax bill.

"We are actually going to save a tremendous amount of money," Council President Richard Clark says. "Which means we'll make better use of those dollars we take in."

Clark says the cost of sending out and collecting those annual fees comes with a hefty administrative price, totaling more than $700,000.

"So it is something we have to produce entirely on our own, at great expense, as opposed to simply adding a line item to an already posted bill that goes out," Clark argues.

But Duval County Tax Collector Mike Hogan says this idea has been tried before with little success.

In 1991, the city added a garbage fee to property tax bills. The result created a lot of problems, Hogan said.

"First of all, nearly everyone's mortgage account was short that year," the Tax Collector said. "And then the following tax year, everyone's escrow payment increased, which of course irriated the taxpayers."

Hogan suggests collecting the stormwater and solid waste fees through monthly JEA bills. Already the city's utility franchise fee is collected through electric bills and Hogan questions why the other two city service fees can't be collected the same way.

Council could vote on the city fee change at it's next meeting December 8. If approved, the fees would start appearing on property tax bills next year.