{"id":170167,"date":"2025-08-23T22:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T22:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/170167\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T22:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T22:12:10","slug":"jacksonville-finance-committee-reaches-compromise-on-meals-on-wheels-funding-in-new-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/170167\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville Finance Committee reaches compromise on Meals on Wheels funding in new budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s Finance Committee is adding back some funding for the Meals on Wheels program. In its final budget hearing, the committee moved forward with $1.7 million for the program after pushback against proposed cuts to Mayor Donna Deegan\u2019s initial budget request.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Jacksonville Finance Committee approves Rory Diamond\u2019s \u2018Big Beautiful Budget Amendments\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The compromise comes after weeks of debate with the mayor\u2019s administration asking for a $2.1 million allocation for senior services to address food insecurity among Jacksonville\u2019s elderly population. Before the final hearing concluded, the committee had approved $603,000 for the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can just keep it simple. I move $1.1 million from the council strategic initiatives to fund Meals on Wheels. In addition to what we have already funded,\u201d Council President Kevin Carrico proposed during the final budget meeting.<\/p>\n

Carrico said the figure is a compromise with the Mayor\u2019s administration. It brings the total up to $1.7 million.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Committee votes to cut $38,600 in funding for Jaguars suite seats used by the mayor\u2019s office, city council<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

At-Large Group 4 Council Member Matt Carlucci had previously spoken out against the proposed cut. He shared his support to the additional dollars going back to the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a good compromise,\u201d Carlucci told the committee. \u201cI appreciate that. I appreciate your support of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

District 14 Council Member Rahman Johnson emphasized the program\u2019s broader impact, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s not just giving food. This is a wellness check.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some council members expressed reservations about the long-term financial implications of the funding. At-Large Group 2 Council Member Ron Salem cautioned about future budget implications.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t think this becomes the baseline, I don\u2019t think you understand how this government works,\u201d Salem said. \u201cThis now is the baseline going forward. There will be increases based on this I would bet you in future budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Finance Committee\u2019s amended version of the $2 billion budget will advance to the full City Council for consideration. The council must approve the final budget by October 1, the start of the new fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s Finance Committee is adding back some funding for the Meals on Wheels program. In…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,5310,13239,3188,723,7310,97333,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-170167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-city-hall","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-meals-on-wheels","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\/115080380078619788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170167","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=170167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}