All elected Republican Jacksonville City Council members, except for one, voted to send the city into millions of dollars of new debt, which may call for new tax increases over the next few years.
Last year’s budget was $1.75 Billion, and the new one hovers around $1.9 billion.
The new spending calls for pay raises for firefighters and police officers: a 13% pay raise for police officers and a 12% pay raise for firefighters, with a 5% increase in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 budgets. Also, a 15% pay raise for corrections officers in 2024-25, plus 8.5% the second year and 7% the third year out.
However, the biggest new spending comes from the $925 million to be used on improvements for a new football stadium for the Jacksonville Jaguars and millions to be allocated for what is known as the “community benefits agreement.” A five-year capital improvement plan includes $489 million in spending for its first year.
The lone vote against the budget was conservative republican councilman Rory Diamond.
Diamond listed several reasons why he opposed the new city budget. He told Florida Daily the city’s tax revenue is short of its expectations and isn’t enough to cover what Mayor Donna Deegan is proposing.
Members of the city’s finance committee told the mayor that with the amount of spending agreed upon, there are economic signs that there won’t be enough money to cover the bills. Jacksonville Council auditors said the city will run deficits from upwards of $105 million through 2029.
But the Mayor’s office, along with Republicans on the city council republicans, bragged about how this year’s budget doesn’t include a tax increase.
‘You can spin how you want to, but this year’s budget has wasteful spending and deficits in the years to come. The Deegan Deficits are here, and the Deegan Tax Doomsday is coming,” said councilman Diamond. “This will put us in the red next year, the year after, and the year after. Your property taxes are going up. There’s no way we can spend like this and not increase property taxes.”
