Deeper dive: What’s in Jacksonville’s $2B budget?

When the Jacksonville City Council gaveled a 13-hour meeting early Wednesday, it left the building with the biggest general operating budget in the city’s history. 

Despite back-and-forth on Mayor Donna Deegan’s priorities, a fight over social policy language and a fight over a modest cut to the city’s property tax rate, the council’s approval of a $2.019 billion general operating budget and $559.12 million capital improvement plan to fund city infrastructure projects was nearly unanimous.

The budget season included public campaign-style rhetoric — including pressure from Florida’s state chief financial officer; news conferences and town halls; and council member Rory Diamond’s failed effort to prohibit city dollars from benefiting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, abortion or undocumented immigrants.

After all that, 15 of the 19 lawmakers voted in favor of what was a 7.2% increase in city spending over the $1.88.3 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

“In one of the most contentious budget cycles our city has seen in years, my colleagues worked together, listened to the public, and delivered a responsible tax cut while passing a balanced budget that fully funds public safety and essential services,” council President Kevin Carrio told Jacksonville Today in a statement.

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Operating budget: Cuts and add-ons

On budget night, city lawmakers approved an amendment by council member Michael Boylan to restore $729,557 to the six JaxCareConnect-partnered safety net clinics stripped by the Finance Committee in August. The decision returned the health care program to the funding levels set in the mayor’s proposed budget.

The council also reinserted $1,910 requested by council member Ju’Coby Pittman for the Sister Cities International. 

Matt Carlucci, a fifth-term Republican, persuaded council to reinstate $900,000 of the $2 million removed from Deegan’s budget to help developers finance affordable housing projects in Jacksonville. 

“I’ve been around here more than you guys have, and I know what the people want. And they want some help in affordable housing,” Carlucci said during the meeting. 

Most city departments including Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Community Services got through the budget process without any cuts. 

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office received a record $647 million for 2025-26, and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue saw its budget climb to $426 million. 

In total, that left about $24 million in overall cuts made by the Finance Committee intact from what Deegan presented in July. 

Still pending

When council reconvenes in October, it still has to address $750,000 pending for Jax Chamber, which was put in limbo during the budget process as Finance Chair Raul Arias wanted to know more about how the organization spends the city’s annual contribution. 

Aundra Wallace, president of Jax Chamber’s economic development arm, JAXUSA Partnership, told council members his organization is the primary recipient of the dollars used for marketing purposes. 

Council member Randy White’s proposal to set aside $13.4 million for public safety funding to protect the Sheriff’s Office and Fire and Rescue from the drop in revenue from the millage rate cut still needs to be finalized. 

He said Wednesday morning that will be done through separate legislation. 

Millage dropped

Two council members voted against the budget early Wednesday morning — Democrat Jimmy Peluso and Diamond, a Republican. 

Peluso used the millage rate cut as his red line on supporting the budget. He said the property tax levy rate approved was not sufficient for a 1 million population city like Jacksonville.

The first-term Democrat — whose district includes Downtown and historic Eastside — introduced two budget amendments that would have pulled a total of $25 million from the operating reserves to work on a list of planned but not funded road resurfacing and sidewalk projects throughout Duval County. 

He argued that dropping the millage and reducing city revenue with outstanding projects is short sighted.

“This is bad for the future of our city. It’s bad for public safety. Again, we’ve heard it already for certain individuals in the media — there’s going to be an ask for more cuts next year. The deficit is only going to get worse,” Peluso said.

“What was just projected by the auditors does not include, again, all of (the Florida Retirement System), does not include future collective bargaining, does not include the massive list of road resurfacing that we still have not done,” he said. “There are hidden deficits that we still have to account for.”

The ⅛-mill rate reduction would save the average homeowner about $1.56 per month, or $18.75 per year, city calculations show. Deegan argued that the tax cut was performative, while proponents like Salem said Tuesday night that it’s a statement and “real relief.”

Diamond supported the tax cut, but he’s argued what passed was not enough. Diamond advocated for a 1-mill, $100 million reduction in the city’s property tax collection during the budget hearings last month.

“It’s small, but let’s take every bit of tax relief we can get,” Diamond posted on X shortly after the millage vote.

Opponents of the property tax rollback, like Peluso, say losing that projected revenue would make deficits expected to hit the city coffers over the next three years worse. 

The council auditors report that Peluso referred to shows a $61.6 million deficit in 2027 and another at $57.25 million in 2028 with a rebound to a $40.58 million surplus by 2030. The report reflects some but not all police and fire employees moving to the Florida Retirement System and more costs for the city’s group health insurance plan will contribute to the budgetary strain. 

Capital projects cut or added

For city infrastructure, council added $12.138 million to what Deegan proposed to spend over the next year, down $3.8 million from last year’s capital improvement plan. 

The largest single addition to the plan was $14 million to capital facilities projects for UF Health Jacksonville, bringing the city’s appropriation for 2025-26 to $24 million.

Here are the six projects for next year in terms of cost: 

• Shipyards West Park: $54 million.
• Countywide road resurfacing: $22.5 million.
• Riverfront Plaza: $22.28 million.
• Museum of Science & History relocation: $20 million.
• New Berlin Road — Cedar Point to Starrt/Pulsky: $20 million. 
• Old Middleburg Road — 103rd to Branan Field: $20 million 

Here are projects the council added:

• Jacoby Hall improvements at the Jacksonville Center for Performing Arts.
• Starratt at Yellow Bluff Road intersection.
• Southside Tennis Complex/Dinsmore sidewalk projects.
• Ed Austin Regional Park turf field.
• Council District 2 roadway resurfacing.
• Waterville Road drainage lawsuit settlement.

 Projects eliminated or funding reduced: 

• Beachwood Park.
• Baisden Road Bicycle Boulevard.
• The Fuller Warren Bridge Park.