In an era of divided government in City Hall, Republicans and Democrats were able to agree earlier this year on the biggest budget item any of them will face.

With just one no vote and on what Mayor Donna Deegan called an “aggressive schedule,” city leaders approved $775 million to renovate (Tr)EverBank Stadium, money that was a precondition to keep the Jaguars in town past the end of the decade.

Wishlist items will be included in the build, including a partial cover intended to shield fans from the sun during hot home games early in the season. The obvious implication is that structural improvements will juice attendance.

There was just one thing that city leaders didn’t count on when giving themselves props for their “legacy” vote though.

The incessant mediocrity of the Jaguars themselves.

As I write this, the team is 0-2 and will likely be 0-3 after a trip to Buffalo Monday evening in a rare primetime TV showcase. And if that happens, the season is all but over. As ESPN’s Bill Barnwell notes, one team since 2002 recovered from an 0-3 start to make the playoffs.

The problems with the team abound, from an offensive line made of turnstiles to a quarterback who is paid like a superstar and who has been given numerous high-dollar wide receivers in his four years, only to manage one passing touchdown this year. 

Those issues might not matter so much, if this team weren’t so reliant on public generosity. The City Council and the mayor laughed off the idea of a stadium-spending ballot referendum, which likely would have happened in November after more losses in what appears to be another throwaway year for the worst NFL owner since hapless Hugh Culverhouse. And it’s arguable the public would have had no choice either when it comes to financing the stadium scheme.

None of that would matter much if money weren’t finite and if one policy choice didn’t foreclose others. 

But we know the limitations of capital too well.

This month’s incessant rainfall, which can’t be blamed on a hurricane, offered an impromptu and unwelcome stress test for local drainage systems, and suggested money spent to improve Shad Khan’s ability to monetize his team may better have been spent on drain maintenance and upgrades.

Council members who were eager to sell the stadium as the ultimate in civic uplift are turning their attention to this issue, rhetorically at least, as seen in last Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall.

“We haven’t had that major event yet, and yet we are still seeing the cracks in our system,” District 7’s Jimmy Peluso said, per Action News Jax. 

Peluso and colleague Joe Carlucci, who represent flood prone Riverside and San Marco, respectively, want “more funding beyond the $6 million for each of their districts in capital improvement projects,” ANJ further reports, but the city’s Chief Financial Officer Anna Brosche says that’s likely not happening “with the city’s current high capital improvement project budget being considered unsustainable as is.”

Translation: We spent the money on the stadium and help is not on the way. Never mind the fact that Peluso has been the most reliable ally to this mayor, appearing at so many of her press conferences that he should be on the executive branch payroll.

As a resident of Peluso’s district, I’ve seen firsthand the consequences of infrastructural neglect. On corridors such as Park Street: the drainage system simply can’t handle the amount of water created during rainstorms.   

But we know any fix will be from a future mayor and a future City Council, if it’s coming at all.

The malign neglect extends to maintenance issues as well, as Joe Carlucci’s Twitter account illustrates.

As San Marco flooded on Sept. 6, Carlucci tried to sell city efforts and “improvements” such as “additional pumps” and work to “declog some of the pipes underground.” But as San Marco Boulevard businesses once again can attest, the city’s failure to do regular preventive maintenance ahead of the storm had impacts on their property during it. 

He also mentioned businesses used sandbags to dam the flooding, which was interesting given that last year, the mayor said that the “scientific information around sandbags” said “they just don’t provide much help” and are a “biohazard” when asked why the city doesn’t distribute them ahead of hurricanes like surrounding counties do. 

By Sept. 14, Carlucci felt comfortable giving a “huge shoutout” to the Public Works Department for “continuing to clear out the clogs in their systems.” In other words, they showed up to work and did what they were contracted to do. 

The lack of urgency starts at the top though, as evidenced by a posted conversation between Mayor Deegan and Resiliency Director Anne Coglianese that suggested a YOLO approach to flooding.

“What we’re seeing is the result of change in climate,” Deegan said, by way of selling a “compound flood model” that will show what Coglianese calls “the complexity of our flood system.”

Of course, flood models already abound. FEMA offers comprehensive risk ratings on flood insurance, as those paying more for the product these days know. And anyone can tell you already that Flood Zones A and B, which are evacuated during tropical events, are inherently riskier than Flood Zone X.

The real issue at play here is that the administration has already hamstrung taxpayers with financial commitments that aren’t in their personal interests. A partial roof on a stadium, a labor deal for first responders — these are luxuries to people dealing with increased property taxes and cost of living concerns generally. 

One lucky break for this mayor, though, is that it may not matter. There isn’t anyone on the City Council with the platform or the credibility to challenge her in 2027 at this point – it’s not as simple as giving hot quotes to a “radio show” hosted by a right-wing website, and the big lesson of 2023 is running to the right  in a countywide election is no way to win. 

And while some Republicans have suggested someone from outside City Hall (such as Sen. Clay Yarborough or Rep. Wyman Duggan) may be the ultimate best play, the time is nigh to make sharp criticisms of how this government is neglecting basic functions such as flood mitigation at the expense of billionaire welfare schemes.

That is, if they are serious about 2027.