JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Donna Deegan presented her $1.7 billion budget Monday to the Jacksonville City Council — her first as the city’s newly elected mayor.
There were no major surprises and no tax increases. But there are lots of smaller projects that are aimed at getting the city out of some problems that deal with roads, septic tanks and infrastructure.
For the past two weeks, Deegan’s administration has been at work mapping out its 2023-2024 spending plan for the city.
READ: You can read Mayor Deegan’s full budget address here | You can see the full budget proposal here
Following the presentation, Deegan held a news conference at City Hall.
Much of the budget was already planned by outgoing Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration, but Deegan said her 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. “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.”
When it came to those three pillars, budget highlights included:
Infrastructure:
- $26.8 million for roadway improvements
- $13.6 million for sidewalk and crosswalk improvements
- $2 million to ensure ADA compliance and sidewalks across the county
- $21.7 million for mowing and landscape maintenance
- $17.5 million for continued septic tank removal, with an additional $1 million for education and incentive programs regarding septic tank removal
- Combined $60 million for transformative projects on both the North and South banks in Downtown
- $9 million in continued investment in the Emerald Trail
- $8.5 million for park upgrades
- $500,000 for pool maintenance
- $13 million to fund renovations and improvements at event and concert spaces, like the Prime Osborn Convention Center, Ritz Theatre and 121 Financial Ballpark
Economy:
- $1.28 million for small business development support
- $108,000 to the University of North Florida Small Business Development Center
- $21.72 million for advancements to the planning, permitting, inspection processes including four new staff positions and enhanced technology
Health:
- Combined $65 million to UF Health for service expansion and capital improvements
- Added 2 senior health executive positions, including the first-ever Chief Health Officer
Deegan also pointed out that her plan put more money into the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid budget.
“With all of the challenges that we have right now in terms of affordable housing, especially, and some of the things that people are facing in terms of evictions, we thought they needed a little bit bigger budget, so we went ahead and put more money in that budget as well,” Deegan said.
Other budget highlights include more than $66 million earmarked for resilience projects, including drainage systems, stormwater maintenance, bridge repair and bulkhead replacements, and more. Deegan also talked about preparing the city for extreme heat.
“Our budget includes $1.5 million for tree maintenance and we will work to quickly utilize the unallocated $20 million that separately remains in the tree replacement trust fund. We should not have neighborhoods that are 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the city on hot summer days,” Deegan said.
The public safety aspect of the budget includes $7.8 million for 40 new officers and 18 non-uniformed positions, adding 66 new JSO vehicles, funding 60 new positions at Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, $3 million in capital improvements for the Police Memorial Building, $31 million for new fire stations and a 4.25% raise for officers and firefighters.
“The raises, which we’re obviously very happy about and our well-deserved by our police and fire, were negotiated two years ago,” Deegan said, acknowledging that many parts of the budget were already in place when she took office. “In terms of the officers, I said on the campaign trail that I thought we needed them. That’s what he (Sheriff T.K. Waters) requested and we thought that was reasonable.”
About $8.5 million will go toward arts, culture and entertainment programs, about $10.5 million is highlighted for youth and literacy programs and $41.5 million is earmarked for community outreach programs.
Pending City Council approval, the budget will take effect on Oct. 1.