The Duval City Council held an extensive Sept. 2 discussion of HB 2015, the state law authorizing a 0.1% public-safety sales tax and a separate competitive grant program administered by the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC).
City Administrator Cynthia McNabb presented a draft ordinance and legal staff reviewed how the new law interacts with county-level actions. McNabb said King County already adopted a version of the public-safety sales tax; under current interpretation the county’s new levy will not flow its incremental revenue directly to Duval. The administrator and city attorney advised that the city may still apply for CJTC grant funds without adopting a local 0.1% sales-tax increase because the city qualifies under existing criminal-justice-related revenue sharing (the city currently receives an annual share of about $300,000 from county criminal-justice sales-tax distributions). However, McNabb and legal staff said adopting a local 0.1% tax would be the direct way for Duval to secure additional dedicated local revenue for public-safety purposes.
Councilmembers debated the cumulative tax burden on residents and the competitiveness of the grant program (the state set aside $100 million for law-enforcement grants). Staff cautioned that grant eligibility rules limit allowable uses (for example, grants generally fund new positions or programs, not existing payroll), and that the CJTC will decide how funds are awarded among many applicants. City Attorney Oscar (last name not given) said his interpretation is grounded in the statute and he will perform additional review and legislative-history checks before the ordinance returns to council. No vote was taken; staff will return with an agenda bill and legal confirmation of the city’s options, including an ordinance if the council chooses to consider a local sales-tax adoption.