Mayor Donna Deegan gives her annual budget address to City Council on Monday, July 14, 2025, as President Kevin Carrico looks on. | Mike Mendenhall, Jacksonville Today
Published on July 14, 2025 at 12:30 pm
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Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan has released a $2 billion budget proposal and $687 million capital improvement plan for the next year that continues the city’s boosted spending on police and fire and puts more money toward her policy checklist — health programs, housing, youth literacy and Downtown riverfront parks.
During her annual budget address to City Council on Monday, Deegan said her spending proposal “delivers every request made by Sheriff (T.K.) Waters” with $638 million for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office — up nearly $5 million from last year — and $387 million for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, mostly driven by increased wages.
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If approved by city lawmakers, capital spending would include $87.5 million for riverfront parks Downtown, some planned and some under construction; $51 million for road and sidewalk projects; $12 million for affordable housing and homelessness programs; $7.1 million for health care initiatives; and $1.4 million for library renovations.
Deegan, a Democrat, directly addressed newly seated Republican council President Kevin Carrico in her speech and what the mayor views as a shared commitment to momentum.
“When council President Carrico accepted the gavel, he noted that this work is for young people like his daughter, Monroe May. He believes — just as I do — that the decisions we make in the present will ripple out for generations to come. And we have no time to waste,” Deegan said.
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“When we delay, defer, or distract — we don’t just lose days, weeks, and months. We lose momentum. That’s why this budget is not just balanced — it is urgent. It is not just disciplined — it is bold. It reflects the values we share: smarter spending, greater safety, better health and more opportunity,” she said.
The plan does not pull from city reserves like Deegan’s two previous budgets and keeps the property tax millage rate steady.
Deegan said increased revenue driven by population growth and a $40 million one-time bump in public utility JEA’s contribution to city coffers allowed finance officials not to pull from the city’s savings account.
Her 2025-26 budget is about $50 million more than what Deegan proposed in 2024 and $120 million more than City Council ultimately approved.
The budget is now in the hands of City Council’s Finance Committee, chaired by District 10 Republican Raul Arias, which will hold budget hearings in August.
After the speech, Carrico told Jacksonville Today he was happy to see public safety and children’s programs were fully funded.
“It’s balanced, not dipping into the reserve. I think that is important — to take care of those reserves for all the taxpayers and wait for opportunities where we really need to use those,” he said. “And the fact the police is fully funded at 100%, fire is funded at 100%, and the Kids Hope Alliance is funded over what they were last year, those are three things that are very important to me.”
