Mayor Deegan unveils $2 billion general fund budget, emphasizes public safety, housing and literacy

Mayor Donna Deegan presented a proposed $2,000,000,000 general fund budget and a $687,000,000 2026 portion of the capital improvement plan to the Jacksonville City Council during a council meeting, saying the plan funds public safety, housing, literacy and process improvements and uses no reserve drawdown.

Deegan said the budget is both "urgent" and "bold," and framed it as responsive to priorities raised at citywide town halls, including housing affordability, mental health and trash and blight. "This budget belongs to the people," she said.

The budget as presented directs substantial funding to public safety departments: a $638,000,000 budget for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and a $387,000,000 budget for Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. Deegan said the sheriff's request is fully funded and that the fire department allocation supports equipment updates, training and programs the mayor said reduce homeowner insurance costs.

On housing and homelessness, Deegan said the proposal includes more than $12,000,000 in programs aimed at affordable housing and homelessness mitigation, and she noted that more than 5,000 below-market-rate units are currently in planning, construction or nearing market because of prior efforts. The budget also funds mitigation strategies such as additional overnight shelter beds, transitional housing, homelessness prevention vouchers and expanded outreach.

The mayor told the council the city is cutting permitting turnaround times through process improvements: commercial permitting average turnaround moved from about 30 days to 15 days, and residential permitting moved from about 25 days to eight days. She said the administration will announce an "express lane" for civil and building permit reviews.

Deegan described a strategy to manage the city's capital program: the current CIP list totals about $2,500,000,000, including roughly $800,000,000 previously authorized but not completed. She said the city has capacity to finish about $250,000,000 in projects per year and that adding new debt without capacity would harm financial health; the administration's approach is to close the CIP to new debt-funded projects for the next few years and favor PAYGo (pay-as-you-go) financing for additional needs.

The mayor credited the budget and finance team for recent recognitions, including a distinguished budget award from the Government Finance Officers Association and a "top tier" double-A-plus rating from Fitch. She said the proposed balanced budget takes $0 from reserves and noted a one-time increased contribution from JEA is being used to cover prior commitments.

Deegan highlighted investments in health and human services, saying the plan provides more than $7,000,000 for proven health programs, supports Jax Care Connect and Health Link Jax telehealth services, and expands elder care food programs and infant mortality reduction work. She said the health investments reduce uncompensated emergency-room costs and increase access to dental care and mental health supports.

The budget also increases funding for literacy and youth programs. Deegan highlighted targeted literacy pilot results at two schools: Northwest Legends third-grade proficiency rose from 9% to 49%, and Reynolds Lane rose from 8% to 54% over the school year. She said countywide third-grade reading on-grade-level moved from 22% to 51% over the year and announced a near $3,000,000 increase in funding for Kids Hope Alliance.

Economic development and small-business supports include continued backing for JaxHub, a fintech incubator; expanded JSEB (Jacksonville Small & Emerging Business) utilization, which the mayor said grew by 56% year over year; and a workforce center partnership with the Urban League.

Council President Carico closed the presentation by thanking the mayor and her staff and said the council's finance committee will take up the budget for further review.

No formal vote on the budget was recorded during the meeting; the mayor turned the proposal over to the council's finance committee for consideration and public deliberation.