JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville officials have until October to decide whether to approve Mayor Donna Deegan's proposed $1.9 billion budget. Some city council members are raising concerns over the mayor’s plan to use millions of dollars from the city reserves.
Mayor Donna Deegan wants to use $47.2 million dollars from the city's operating reserves to pay one-time expenses including things like Downtown development grants, affordable housing funds and public safety equipment.
“This is not anything different than what has been happening in our city for many years. And I think that we have to continue to make sure as I said before, that as our city grows, we are investing in those things that will give us a return on our investment," Deegan said.
When the mayor presented her budget in early July, Finance Committee Chair Ron Salem brought up concerns about using reserves, specifically for expenses that might come from future natural disasters.
But Deegan pointed out that last year’s budget added $76 million into operating reserves and the proposal will not touch emergency reserves funding.
“Even with this money that we're taking the one time expenditures out of, we have double the amount of money in our reserves, that is our target, double even with that money taken out," she said.
And when it comes to adding money back into the fund, she says: “We're already looking out at ways that we can make things more efficient. The truth is at the end of most years, we end up with 20 or $30 million additional that we can put in reserves.
There are four Budget Review Committee meetings scheduled to review the proposed budget. The first will be August 12.
"We presented a balanced budget, as we always will. And at the end of the day, we still have to make sure that we are investing in our community in a way that we will get the best return for that investment," Deegan said.
The final budget must be approved by the full City Council prior to Oct, 1.