{"id":121726,"date":"2025-08-05T20:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121726\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T20:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:01:12","slug":"rory-diamond-eyes-amendments-to-jacksonville-proposed-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121726\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory Diamond eyes amendments to Jacksonville proposed budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d could be coming to Jacksonville by way of amendments to the city\u2019s proposed budget.<\/p>\n

Republican Jacksonville<\/a><\/strong> City Council member Rory Diamond<\/strong> wants to make material changes, aligned with the conservative push to yank spending from areas of opposition, to the $2 billion budget<\/a><\/strong> proposed by Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sick of seeing young Americans working hard and doing everything right while they lose hope of the American dream; all the while being taxed into poverty,\u201d the second-term Council member said.<\/p>\n

Diamond, a member of the Finance Committee, has at least five suggestions he will float during deliberations ahead of the final September vote on the spending plan.<\/p>\n

He seeks to cut property tax by $100 million without cutting spending for first responders. However, money for \u201cillegal aliens,\u201d what he described as \u201cso-called\u201d Diversity Equity and Inclusion, \u201caffinity boards and commissions,\u201d and for \u201cabortion and abortion-related services\u201d would be on the chopping block.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Deegan\u2019s budget is rife with money for woke programs with no substance. The burden on taxpayers is skyrocketing. Enough is enough. I am announcing the \u2018Big Beautiful Budget Amendments\u2019 to bring sanity back to Jacksonville, and to reward tax paying citizens for doing the right thing\u201d\u00a0Diamond said.<\/p>\n

Much of Deegan\u2019s budget proposal, though it may increase the burden on taxpayers, is anodyne, including a shaded structure for the downtown\u00a0Veterans\u2019 Memorial Wall<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, $100,000 for Fintech incubator Jax Hub and a $1 million workforce center for the Urban League are in play, along with $12 million for affordable housing and to combat homelessness.<\/p>\n

More than $100 million in parks spending is also contemplated, including $87.5 million for riverfront parks. Additionally, more than $20 million would be spent on the Community Benefits Agreement that was part of the Jaguars\u2019 stadium deal, with $14 million of that evenly allocated in the 14 Council districts.<\/p>\n

But public safety, as is traditional, is the big spend, with nearly a billion dollars allocated, including more than $100 million in salary and pension boosts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sheriff\u2019s Office is set to get everything it asks for, with $638 million in proposed money this year. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department would get $387 million if the budget is approved as written.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d could be coming to Jacksonville by way of amendments to the city\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":121727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3232,10083,3188,723,7310,10177,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-121726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-budget","10":"tag-donna-deegan","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-rory-diamond","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114977943659761432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}