Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan unveiled a $2.026 billion general fund budget Monday that keeps the property tax millage steady \u2014 her final annual spending plan before the 2027 mayoral election.<\/p>\n
In the weeks leading up to the address, Deegan promised a \u201clean budget\u201d for the 2026-27 fiscal year<\/a>. What she presented to City Council was a 1.1%, $22.58 million increase over this year, driven by salary increases for police and fire employees.<\/p>\n The spend on the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department would be more than half Deegan\u2019s total budget, if adopted by city lawmakers as presented \u2014 a combined $1.07 billion.<\/p>\n Deegan also is going to try again to get council to approve and seed an affordable housing trust fund. The nonprofit Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment has pushed the mayor to put $10 millon into a fund<\/a> to deal with unaffordable housing. <\/p>\n Budget documents show a $4.9 million line item for the fund, and Deegan says there will be a total of $5.5 million to build more housing for lower-income level families and to assist first-time homebuyers.<\/p>\n Her $586.11 million Capital Improvement Plan \u2014 money for roads, bridges, parks and other city infrastructure projects \u2014 is $98 million less than this year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Deegan is touting a $13.2 million jump to $35.94 million in road resurfacing throughout Duval County and $25 million to address aging septic tanks in the city\u2019s historically underserved neighborhoods. Plus millions more for waterway bulkheads and sidewalk installations and repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Deegan entered her speech Monday with some goodwill with the new Republican City Council president<\/a>, Nick Howland.\u00a0<\/p>\n But she faces a GOP majority council that has signaled it\u2019s ready to slice or make some city spending contingent on the looming November voter referendum to cut Florida\u2019s homestead property taxes, and with it future city revenue.<\/p>\n Deegan\u2019s message to conservative city lawmakers Monday: Think long-term benefits versus costs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should never confuse inaction with conservatism. Sometimes the most expensive thing government can do is nothing. Because maintenance deferred is not savings. It is hidden debt,\u201d Deegan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe road we fail to maintain becomes the road we must rebuild. The drainage project we delay becomes the neighborhood that floods again,\u201d she said. \u201cThe permitting system we neglect becomes the business that opens somewhere else. The family we fail to stabilize becomes an emergency call, an eviction, a hospital visit or a crisis that costs way more than prevention ever would have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Budget breakdown<\/p>\n In addition to the Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s proposal of $675 million, the Deegan administration also wants council to approve the sheriff\u2019s request for $10 million for a warehouse consolidation project and for an $8 million facility for its mounted unit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of the $586 million Deegan\u2019s capital plan would spend on infrastructure, $220 million of that is earmarked for the city\u2019s $1.4 billion renovation of Everbank Stadium<\/a> with the Jacksonville Jaguars.\u00a0<\/p>\n An additional $4 million would be available to the Eastside in this budget, the second installment of $40 million in public funding from the city\u2019s Community Benefits Agreement<\/a> for that neighborhood with the Jaguars in the stadium deal.<\/p>\n The $25 million for septic tank removals<\/a> is $16 million more than this year\u2019s city budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s $27 million previously approved in this budget going toward the Jacksonville Museum of Science & History\u2019s move to a new Northbank facility, and $25 million for the second phase of Riverfront Plaza Downtown.<\/p>\n Deegan\u2019s capital expenditures also include millions for library remodels, repairs and new builds, including a planned $7 million for the Brentwood branch.<\/p>\n The budget continues to provide $56 million to UF Health Jacksonville for indigent care and another $24 million for capital improvements to the medical center\u2019s city-owned facilities in Springfield.<\/p>\n City-funded public health care was one of the biggest battles between the mayor\u2019s office and council during last year\u2019s budget hearings. Despite some council members\u2019 attempt to strip Healthlink Jax, the city\u2019s telehealth program for uninsured residents, from this year\u2019s budget, Deegan\u2019s budget asks for $1.5 million to fully fund the program.<\/p>\n