JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Donna Deegan will present her $1.7 billion budget to the Jacksonville City Council on Monday -- her first as the city’s newly elected mayor.
For the past two weeks, Deegan’s administration has been at work mapping out its 2023-2024 spending plan for the city despite much of the budget already being planned by outgoing Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration.
“I’ve made no secret about the fact that infrastructure was the top pillar of my campaign. We have a lot of crumbling infrastructure in this city that we need to fix,” Deegan said.
The city’s infrastructure, however, won’t be a quick fix. Roads have potholes and sidewalks are failing in some communities and several city pools need repairs. There are also 23,000 failing septic tanks in the city, which would cost $1.5 billion to repair.
Deegan said three areas of focus in the budget are infrastructure, health and economy.
“Those are the three pillars you’re going to see sprinkled through my budget. Things that really support those three pillars,” she said.
Earlier in the week, Deegan revealed a glimpse of the nearly $430 million construction and road projects that she will propose with over $200 million in road and drainage projects, $31 million for fire station renovations and new facilities and $500,000 for pool maintenance.
Deegan’s administration has been holding special meetings to discuss infrastructure, primarily resiliency, how to handle flooding and problems related to climate change.
Those plans won’t be included in the budget but will become a priority during her administration.
City Council President Ron Salem said he doesn’t believe any surprises will come Monday as his input was also considered in Deegan’s budget proposal.
Pending City Council approval, the budget will take effect on Oct. 1.