Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Dawuane Smoot feeling 2017 vibes
Two of the most underrated plays made during the Jaguars’ 26-10 victory over Carolina on Sept. 7 came from veteran defensive lineman Dawuane Smoot.
- The Jacksonville City Council is deeply divided over budget restrictions on abortion, DEI, and services for undocumented immigrants.
- Council members temporarily removed the controversial provisions to pass a tentative budget but the issue will be revisited.
- A standoff occurred when several council members walked out in protest, and others refused to vote for the budget with the restrictions.
- Supporters of the restrictions plan to reintroduce them, threatening a state takeover of city finances if the final budget is not passed.
Jacksonville City Council is deeply divided over whether next year’s budget should contain controversial provisions prohibiting spending city money on abortions, immigrants in the country illegally and DEI programs.
Council temporarily side-stepped the split by deciding to remove those restrictions from the tentative 2025-26 budget approved at the end of a marathon meeting marked by fiery speeches. Four council members walked out of council chambers at one point while council was still in session.
Removing the restrictions was a win for council members who called them a “poison pill.” They repeatedly voted against the tentative budget and ultimately forced a vote by council at 12:05 a.m. Sept. 10 to take out the language on abortion, immigrants and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI for short.
But the battle will reignite Sept. 23 when council member Rory Diamond said he will file an amendment to add the language back into the 2025-26 budget when council takes its final vote on it.
“This isn’t going away,” Diamond said. “This is going to be in the budget. There’s literally nothing you can do to stop it.”
He said if opponents refuse to vote Sept. 23 for the final budget because it has the restrictions in it and that prevents council from reaching the 10 votes need to pass the budget, the state Department of Revenue will take over the city’s finances under the control of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia.
“I feel much more confident in their hands than you simply stonewalling so that we can’t get to 10 votes,” Diamond said.
Council member Jimmy Peluso said it’s “really concerning” to hear Diamond look forward to a state takeover.
“That’s very bizarre to me, especially for someone who considers himself a conservative,” Peluso said. “It couldn’t be more different than conservative ideology.”
Eight council members oppose the restrictions being in the budget: Peluso, Ken Amaro, Michael Boylan, Matt Carlucci, Reggie Gaffney, Jr., Rahman Johnson, Tryona Clark-Murray and Ju’Coby Pittman.
Ten council members support the restrictions: Diamond, council President Kevin Carrico, Terrance Freeman, Mike Gay, Will Lahnen, Nick Howland, Randy White, Raul Arias, Joe Carlucci and Ron Salem.
But Freeman and Gay abstained from voting on the tentative budget to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest since they have ties to businesses that could get contracts from the city. That left supporters of the restrictions shy of the 10 votes needed to approve the tentative budget.
Council member Chris Miller was absent. Diamond said he expects Miller will join supporters of the restrictions at the Sept. 23 meeting.
Council member Pittman: ‘Enough is doggone enough’
City Council initially rejected an amendment by Pittman to strip the language from the proposed budget crafted by the council’s Finance Committee. Pittman then walked out of council chambers along with Peluso, Johnson and Gaffney.
Arias said he was stunned to see members exit the chamber and miss votes.
“I am in shock right now,” he said. “Honestly, I feel bad for the people that elected them.”
Johnson, who is one of council’s Black members, said he left as a “gut reaction” and “act of conscience.” He said the restrictions in the budget sent a “chilling statement — people who look like me can be disregarded to score political points.”
He also objected that putting the restrictions into the budget violates the City Charter.
“If walking off was the only way to make clear that the voices of my constituents must be heard, then so be it,” he said in a statement.
Supporters of keeping the restrictions on spending on abortion, immigrants in the county illegally and DEI urged opponents to vote for the bill with those provisions in place and then try again on Sept. 27 to remove the language.
But opponents said they cannot vote for a budget containing the restrictions. They said the path forward would be to drop those requirements, which have never before been in a city budget.
Pittman said the Finance Committee approved the addition of the language at the “last minute” when the committee wrapped up it final budget hearing on Aug. 22. She called it a self-serving “bullying tactic.”
“And I want to say enough is doggone enough,” Pittman said. “I want to say something else, but enough is enough. I see who you are. I see what you represent.”
She said targeting DEI is racist “and silences voices.” She said the prohibition on abortion spending is “disrespectful to women” and would use the city’s budget “to impose personal ideology.” She said neither of those restrictions or the language about services for people who are in the country without legal authorization belong in a city budget.
Diamond said the restrictions are “common sense” measures that Jacksonville residents support.
“They don’t want to spend their money on racist policies,” he said. “They don’t want to spend their money on abortion and they don’t want to spend their money on illegal aliens. I stand by this all day long.”
Amaro said Mayor Donna Deegan’s proposed budget, which the Finance Committee amended, did not have any line items for spending on abortion, DEI or immigrants without legal authorization. He said that makes the restrictions “immaterial, incompetent and irrelevant.”
“Therefore, it needs to be removed,” Amaro said.
While Peluso, Pittman, Gaffney and Johnson left for a long portion of the meeting, their absense didn’t directly impact a series of votes that fell short of the 10-vote margin needed to approve the tentative budget.
It at least two of the four council members who opposed the restrictions and remained in the meeting had voted “yes,” the council would have had 10 votes for the tentative budget. But Amaro, Boylan, Matt Carlucci and Clark-Murray repeatedly voted “no” so long as the restrictions were in the proposed budget.
“It doesn’t belong in this bill,” Boylan said.
Clark-Murray said if council members wanted to get approval of a tenative budget, they should take the “evil out” of the proposed budget “because it is evil.”