JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Donna Deegan on Wednesday announced a significant increase -- 95% -- to the budget of Jacksonville’s Mowing and Landscape Maintenance Division.
This year’s mowing division budget, which still needs to be approved by City Council, will be $21.7 million.
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Deegan made the announcement alongside Dave McDaniel, Chief of Jacksonville’s Mowing & Landscape Maintenance Division, Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, Councilwoman Tyrona Clark-Murray and LIFT JAX, and said one of the most talked-about issues on her campaign trail was trash pickup and overgrown grass around the city.
“It’s important. We want to have pride in our city,” Deegan said. “This is really a big deal. While it sounds like a small deal, it’s a big deal.”
McDaniel said this will increase capacity for mowing, litter cleanup, and landscape maintenance.
The contract mowing cycles, which currently can vary from nine times a year to 21 times a year depending on the location, will now all be set to the 21 times a year cycle, along with edging 21 times per year.
With the new budget, local parks will be mowed 36 times per year and crews will put fertilization down four times per year.
McDaniel said the city of Jacksonville will be looking for more JSEB vendors to help with the new workload.
“The amount of edging we will be doing is 47,000 miles,” McDaniel said. “That’s here to California and back 10 times.”
Deegan said Jacksonville can expect to see these changes begin in October when the rest of her budget also goes into effect.
The Mowing & Landscape Maintenance Division maintains landscape, including grass, trees, other vegetation and irrigation, on various city-owned assets. Click here to read more.