One factor fueling St. Johns County's budget for the 2026 fiscal year is the need to keep the county's fire rescue services out of the red. | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today
Published on September 18, 2025 at 3:35 pm
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Q: As municipalities across the state prepare to begin a new fiscal year Oct. 1, officials are throwing around a lot of numbers about their budgets.
In particular, Jacksonville Today reader Ricardo F. wrote in to ask why it sounds like St. Johns County and Jacksonville have similar budgets despite the wide disparity in size and population.
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“How is it that both St Johns and Jacksonville are discussing $2 billion budgets?”
A: When officials in each county talk about finances for the upcoming fiscal year, both Jacksonville and St. Johns County are represented as having $2 billion budgets. But those comparisons are like apples to oranges.
While officials from both counties may talk about their $2 billion budgets, in reality, the portions of the budget they’re comparing are very different.
In St. Johns, the $1.898 billion represents the county’s entire budget, including its general fund, the fund used to fix up buildings, roads and other structures as well as other funds.
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With some exceptions, the general fund — which pays for things like public safety and government operations — is the main area where taxpayer funds are used. That general fund comes to just under $500 million.
In Jacksonville, the $2 billion budget is in reference to just its general fund. While the city still has to put the finishing touches on its budget, the sum total of Jacksonville’s budget is in the neighborhood of about $5.009 billion.
According to the City Council auditor, if budgets for the city’s independent authorities and the nonprofit Downtown Vision Inc. — which is funded by a dedicated taxing source — is added to that bottom line, it’s in excess of $9 billion.
St. Johns County’s general fund budget is about one-quarter of the general fund that the Jacksonville City Council is expected to vote on next week.
Jacksonville’s general fund, like St. Johns’, includes funding for government employees and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
In both counties, most of the debate about the budget centers on the general fund because other parts included in the overall budget include funds where grant money, as well as state or federal funding, is used.
Facing additional scrutiny from the state over the budget, Jacksonville City Council members have been in tense negotiations to decide on just how much to tax local property owners.
St. Johns County finalized its budget during a hearing this week, but the Jacksonville City Council is expected to finalize its budget when the board meets at 3 p.m. Tuesday. That meeting will be in the City Council Chamber on the first floor of the St. James building, at 117 West Duval St.
The meeting will be broadcast live online.
Jacksonville Today Associate Editor Mike Mendenhall contributed to this report.
