JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After months of discussion and feedback, the Jacksonville City Council finally decided on Tuesday night how to spend millions of dollars that were originally part of the Jaguars stadium deal.
About $94 million was at stake in the Community Benefits Agreement.
The city council voted to approve the agreement with thirteen members voting “Yes,” two members voting “No,” and three abstaining.
MORE: Eastside residents make case for City Council to invest CBA money in their community
Mayor Donna Deegan issued a statement after the vote:
“Tonight we delivered for all of Jacksonville an investment that will transform our community for generations. Thank you to City Council President Randy White, the CBA Special Committee, our chief negotiator Mike Weinstein, Shad Khan, Mark Lamping, and the entire team that made this day possible.
We negotiated a historic $300 million community benefits agreement that would be split equally between the Jaguars and City of Jacksonville. I’m grateful that the City Council has approved this full investment.
The Eastside has increased support, and we will now have ongoing funding for critical workforce development, affordable housing, and homelessness programs. It is our goal to maximize the city’s investment in the shortest amount of time possible to create the greatest impact for our residents.
The Stadium of the Future and community benefits agreement were introduced to the City Council less than four months ago. The boulder of progress moves quickly when we are all pushing it together.”
Mayor Deegan
Ever since the agreement was first announced there has been a lot of talk about how to spend it.
Over the last month and a half, a special council has held four meetings to discuss the details.
But according to our news partners at the Jacksonville Daily Record, the Jags and the mayor’s office felt it had watered down the proposal to a point where they felt the impact would not be seen. So that special committee held an extra session last week to continue shaping the plan.
The CBA was initially part of a $150 million portion of the stadium deal that is said to benefit much of Jacksonville’s Eastside.
The CBA was cut at the time due to concerns about conflicts of interest because some council members work with groups that could potentially benefit from the money.
The money is expected to go toward workforce development, affordable housing and addressing homelessness.
Jacksonville is poised to set a record among NFL markets after City Council approved the remaining portion of a $300 million community benefits agreement between the city and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
If ratified by the NFL owners group in October, the benefits agreement will be the largest in the history of the 32-team league.