The Mayor had her say at an event at Riverside High.
Jacksonville’s Democratic Mayor is dismayed by the state’s Republican CFO for offering scant specifics in his denunciation of city spending.
During a town hall event, Mayor Donna Deegan hit back at Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia’s criticisms.
“There were no suggestions. Nothing that bears any resemblance to anything that we’re actually doing in this city, nor an acknowledgement that we’re in a consolidated government,” Deegan said. “At the end of the day, I’ve just got to say I was looking for the beef today and I did not find any.”
Ingoglia said the budget, proposed to be $2 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, could be 10% leaner at least, with a haircut on property taxes of 1.19 mill possible, a number well beyond the 1/8 mill cut proposed by City Council members.
During his remarks, Ingoglia offered a “high-level” attempt to “illustrate how big government has gotten in the city of Jacksonville and how spending has gotten out of hand” in the city with a supermajority Republican City Council.
He said Deegan’s spending is on “steroids” and the city wouldn’t have to “skip a beat” in cutting the “reckless, bloated budget.”
The City Council will vote on the budget, the third Deegan has proposed, on Tuesday.
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