{"id":89174,"date":"2025-07-24T17:25:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/89174\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T17:25:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:25:36","slug":"jacksonvilles-budget-includes-a-surprising-105000-allocation-to-st-johns-county-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/89174\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville\u2019s budget includes a \u2018surprising\u2019 $105,000 allocation to St. Johns County. Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 The City of Jacksonville\u2019s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year has drawn attention from many, including government law attorney Chris Hand, who shared his insights on surprising elements in the $2 billion spending plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time the City of Jacksonville budget has crossed that $2 billion threshold,\u201d Hand noted, highlighting the doubling of the budget over the past decade. <\/p>\n

He praised the city\u2019s financial position and said the city actually has some additional money to invest this year, thanks to increased property tax revenue and one-time contributions.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>More than $1B of Jacksonville mayor\u2019s budget proposal earmarked for JSO, JFRD<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Hand said it was \u201dsurprising\u201d to see some specific budget choices. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an appropriation in the budget of about $105,000 from the city of Jacksonville to St. Johns County, our neighbor to the south. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s due to some intra-local agreement or something, but that\u2019ll be curious to find out more about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s office told News4JAX that the $105,000 allocation to St. Johns County is for debt service related to the Race Track Road Widening project, covering $65,100 in interest and $40,000 in principal. <\/p>\n

The county border complexities at that location mean the portion outside Duval County could not be included in Jacksonville\u2019s Capital Improvement Plan, so the city \u201cpaid for the St. Johns County portion with debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another unexpected aspect was the lack of increased funding for nonprofits and cultural organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of those got about $7 million, the exact amount they got the year before. That was a little bit surprising, because the mayor and her team have articulated that both nonprofits and arts and culture are important priorities for the community,\u201d Hand said.<\/p>\n

He emphasized the economic impact of cultural funding, citing the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville\u2019s report showing a \u201c30 to 1 return on investment for money the city puts in.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hand expressed concern about the city\u2019s vibrancy, referencing a recent report labeling Jacksonville as \u201cthe most boring out of the 75 major cities in the country,\u201d<\/a> and suggested arts and culture funding as a key to improving quality of life.<\/p>\n

Affordable housing and homelessness remain priorities in the budget<\/a>, with $12 million allocated this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat has been a consistent priority of the mayor and not just of the mayor throughout the state of Florida, even the country for affordable or attainable housing is a great concern,\u201d Hand said. <\/p>\n

Infrastructure funding also saw a notable increase<\/a>, with a 64% boost to $51 million for roadway resurfacing, sidewalk repairs, and intersection improvements. <\/p>\n

The overall infrastructure budget approaches $700 million, including a $210 million installment for stadium renovation and over $100 million for parks, including downtown riverfront projects and the Emerald Trail.<\/p>\n

As the budget moves to City Council for review and possible changes, Hand encouraged public engagement. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the people\u2019s budget. It\u2019s the citizens\u2019 budget,\u201d Hand said. \u201cIt\u2019s really crucial that if people have thoughts, ideas on what the City of Jacksonville\u2019s budget priorities should be, that\u2019s what a budget is, a statement of priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The City of Jacksonville\u2019s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year has drawn attention from…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":89175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3232,5310,10083,3188,723,7310,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-89174","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-city-council","11":"tag-donna-deegan","12":"tag-fl","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114909382242871104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89174","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=89174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}