JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville City Council passed Mayor Donna Deegan's budget Tuesday night.
Deegan's total budget amount is $1.75 billon.
For hours Tuesday night, the city council debated some councilmembers requests to move funds.
Councilmembers Terrance Freeman, Jimmy Peluso and Mike Gay proposed amendments of the budget.
The first debate challenged Councilmember Terrance Freeman's request to allocate $3.1 million from the Mayor's Task Force Contingency towards reducing homelessness. The majority of councilmembers agreed homelessness in Jacksonville needs a solution but the request to move millions to help fund it ultimately this failed because of the argument of taking it from the $25 million the mayor set aside for future spending. Freeman argued the funds will protect dollars for the homeless community.
"Homelessness is a crisis," Freeman said. "It's not the mayors money, it's not the council's money, it's the people's money and we've got to stop taking ownership of it."
But other members of the council argued.
"I'm not going to put $3.1 million dollars aside and think that's it," Councilman Matt Carlucci said, "We're taking the money out of her reserves, she doesn't mess with ours."
The council agreed to return $100,000 to the Safety and Crime Reduction Commission for mental health. The council denied Councilmember Jimmy Peluso's fund request for $250,000 for a light rail transit feasibility study. A Jacksonville Transportation Authority Member told the council the city's current density does not require a light rail and the council ultimately agreed.
Peluso withdrew his request for funding of both the Riverfront Plaza and Shipyards Projects but asked the council to make sure it gets completed.
"We've now told the public these two parks are going to happen. They better happen in the way that we told everyone because if they end up being just a giant grass yard and a volleyball pit, people are going to be upset with us and they are going to say the same thing they've said for years, 'it's a city of renderings and we never execute.' Please, I am asking everyone as we move on into the future to keep an eye on these two projects," Councilman Jimmy Peluso said.
In a statement, Mayor Donna Deegan said: “This final budget makes generational investments to ensure Jacksonville’s citizens are healthy, safe, housed, and thriving. I'm grateful for President Salem and Vice President White’s leadership and I thank the full City Council for their collaboration. I look forward to our continued proactive partnership as we work together to implement these dollars for the community.”
The budget will go into effect October 1. Read the full budget by clicking here.