Donna Deegan plays offense as Jacksonville City Council begins budget deliberations

Jacksonville’s Democratic Mayor is going over the heads of the supermajority Republican City Council to sell her latest budget as the legislative branch begins to consider the spending proposal.

An email from the office of Donna Deegan notes that citizens are “going to start hearing a lot about our proposed budget this week as the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee starts to review it.”

“Know this: Jacksonville is on the precipice of greatness. The time is now to choose what kind of city we want to be. Our proposed budget is balanced, fiscally responsible, and focused on the greatest return for our citizens. Now is not the time to turn back from our bold vision,” Deegan said.

The $1.9 billion-plus budget for her city on the “precipice of greatness” is up more than $165 million over Fiscal Year 2023-24, with $489 million in capital improvement spending, including more than $150 million dollars of CIP projects targeted to Districts 8, 9 and 10.

The emergency reserve would also be increased by $25 million to more than $128 million in the proposed budget. However, the Mayor also proposes using more than $47 million from the city’s operating reserves for one time spending, which is a point of contention with Republicans.

“Jacksonville’s general reserves are like our family savings account — there for tough budgets and unexpected circumstances. The annual budget has both used and replaced reserves 9 of the last 10 years. It’s a common practice. Even with a handful of one-time expenses covered by reserves, we still have double the amount we targeted,” Deegan contended.

Deegan has a number of big asks in the budget, including $94 million more for the community benefits agreement that is part of the stadium deal, 40 new officers, $94 million in operating and capital funding for UF Health, $10 million to deal with complying with new state guidelines barring the unhoused from sleeping rough, and other capital projects.

To reassure locals, Deegan notes that credit ratings are stable at AA with two agencies, and “bumped up” to AA+ by Fitch.

“They based these ratings off our currently proposed budget and infrastructure spending, including funding for the stadium renovation. These agencies look at our current situation and at the future too. Jacksonville’s strong financial position means lower interest costs and more money back into city coffers to be spent on services for citizens.”