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Budget is just latest stage for Jacksonville political theater | Opinion
Mark Woods
Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
I think I need some of our City Council members to spin my household budget.
With their help, maybe I'd be able to commit to spending a lot of money on some expensive items — like the household equivalent of $775 million for a stadium renovation, $130 million for a Four Seasons hotel and $39 million cash for a "luxury apartment tower" — then also gladly support spending significantly more on a home security system, and then without a hint of irony, proclaim we're spending too much and pat myself on the back for coming up with a plan to cut a few things and save ... a couple of bucks a month!
I figure using this I might be able to buy that fancy carbon bike I've had my eye on, then propose we cut out a Starbucks coffee here and there and expect to be applauded in my house as a fiscal hero.
The council's seven-member Finance Committee voted Aug. 7 to lower the city's property tax rate by 1/8th of a mill.
More: Carrico calls Deegan 'elitist' on taxes. She says he 'cheers' axing help for people in need
Here's what that would mean: the average homeowner would pay about $19 less in taxes next year, and the city would trim about $13 million from the $2 billion budget proposed by Mayor Donna Deegan.
To accomplish this, the committee's proposal includes cuts in funding sought by Deegan for things like affordable housing and healthcare — for example, cutting money for the JaxCareConnect program, which helps keep uninsured residents from turning to costly ER visits for care, from $1.75 million to $500,000.
The full 19-member City Council will have the final say in September.
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In the meantime, expect to hear a lot being said.
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/columns/mark-woods/2025/08/15/budget-battle-between-council-deegan-is-latest-in-political-theater/85651818007/
It's incredible to me that certain City Council members would:
1) Look at all of the progress we've made as a city over the last two years by working together across political lines - a fair stadium agreement, revitalized parks, long dormant projects moving forward, a historic CBA, etc.
2) Compare it to the toxic shitshow that came before it where our public utility was under federal investigation, Lenny Curry was trying to drunkenly goad political opponents into fist fighting in his backyard, and Daniel Davis was soundly defeated because of a tribalistic, negative campaign.
3) Think to themselves: "We need more of the original thing."
It is absolutely abhorrent that the city's most vulnerable (homeless services), most struggling (affordable housing), and most ill (Healthlink Jax) are being used as pawns in some embarrassing, sycophantic pageant by a handful of council members that isn't even having the intended effect. Look at the poll numbers. People are happy with how the city has progressed.
I don't know how some of these people sleep at night patting themselves on the back for cutting city services that not only keep our vulnerable population alive, but are essentially a rounding error on the budget. For what? A $1 a month decrease in property taxes and a line item on their resume for their next campaign. Their churches should kick them out.
Gets more embarrassing by the day.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/08/15/councilmen-want-easier-access-to-the-citys-free-event-tickets-like-jags-games-one-member-says-theyre-out-of-touch/
Get these babies their diapers.
Quote from: Ken_FSU on August 16, 2025, 01:37:25 PM
Gets more embarrassing by the day.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/08/15/councilmen-want-easier-access-to-the-citys-free-event-tickets-like-jags-games-one-member-says-theyre-out-of-touch/
Get these babies their diapers.
Quote"So president Carrico was involved in something with the mayor's office and aked me to draft legislation," Salem said. "We are co-equal branch of this government so if we can get our share and pass them on to our constituents, and such as well."
Councilmember Salem said the proposed change is about fairness and giving councilmembers the ability to share tickets with members of the community.
"I know when I was president, I used them to reward people as well, they may be city employees, or others in the community that have done something special, and I'd call them ask them if they want to go to a baseball game a Jag game, something like that," Salem said.
A beautifully articulated justification of the public good this legislation will do. It's just a shame this has to be overshadowed by the recent sunshine law violations and the nuisance of our vulnerable populations. /s
Quote from: jaxoNOLE on August 16, 2025, 03:12:32 PM
Quote"So president Carrico was involved in something with the mayor's office and aked me to draft legislation," Salem said. "We are co-equal branch of this government so if we can get our share and pass them on to our constituents, and such as well."
Councilmember Salem said the proposed change is about fairness and giving councilmembers the ability to share tickets with members of the community.
"I know when I was president, I used them to reward people as well, they may be city employees, or others in the community that have done something special, and I'd call them ask them if they want to go to a baseball game a Jag game, something like that," Salem said.
A beautifully articulated justification of the public good this legislation will do. It's just a shame this has to be overshadowed by the recent sunshine law violations and the nuisance of our vulnerable populations. /s
Can Salem's DOGE Committee subpoena the list of people Salem gave tickets to? How many times he used the freebies?
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"So president Carrico was involved in something with the mayor's office and aked me to draft legislation," Salem said. "We are co-equal branch of this government so if we can get our share and pass them on to our constituents, and such as well."
Incredible quote in light of the Sunshine Law violation stories. What publicly noticed and recorded meeting did Carrico ask this at?
Here is another log on the garbage fire of the City Council... everything the Mayor tries to do is now deemed in some way as DEI. She wants to publicize the economic and social discrepancies in the City so maybe, for once, the City balances its spending and priorities more equally rather than loading up projects of the connected developers and others that fund City Council races.
As usual, Diamond is at the front of the line with his fire breathing. Now, he is on record against "equity"... Uuuuugh...wouldn't that be treating people equally? Isn't that in our constitution? He is also against data that shows where the City has shortcomings? I thought that is what the GOP wanted... data driven actions, not based on subjective inputs. Diamond has really gone out of bounds lately... even by his standards.
I posted the other day that Curry called in on First Coast Connect to with Carrico and they admitted they talk weekly. One can imagine that Carrico isn't the only GOP councilman Curry talks to every week. If so, Curry's machine is going full bore with Curry the string pulling puppeteer. Regardless, this continues the Curry administration's strict focus on self over community.
How the voters keep voting for this crew is beyond me. The odor from City Hall is so bad, you can smell it at the far corners of the County. And, when some of these people run for other offices, I hope people remember what they did/did not do on the City Council and think twice about who they support.
QuoteCouncil committee deletes money for State of Jax site unveiled by Mayor Deegan
One week after Mayor Donna Deegan unveiled the "State of Jax" online site, the City Council Finance Committee voted to kill it as one opponent called it a "diversity, equity and inclusion" project that divides the city.
State of Jax uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources to compare Jacksonville with other cities on economic, health and education measures. The site also shows how different areas of Jacksonville stack up based on City Council districts and it will eventually drill down further by ZIP codes and neighborhood-level Census tracts.
Deegan said during the Aug. 5 unveiling of the site the data will help city leaders understand "the reality that we are dealing with, so let's in fact deal with it."
City Council member Rory Diamond, who voted to eliminate funding for State of Jax, said it's the kind of DEI — shorthand for diversity, equity and inclusion — that state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and the Florida DOGE review want to root out from Jacksonville and other local governments.
Diamond said State of Jax is the "equity" piece of DEI, which he said is "reverse racist policies" that voters repudiated by electing Donald Trump as president.
"What's they're trying to do is say we need to spend more money for these people and not those people because we have this data that says you should do that," Diamond said . "This is DEI. This is what Jacksonville voted against. We're tired of this."...
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/08/15/dei-cited-in-killing-funding-for-state-of-jax-site-backed-by-mayor/85652813007/?tbref=hp
Quote from: jaxlongtimer on August 17, 2025, 12:56:00 AM
Diamond said State of Jax is the "equity" piece of DEI, which he said is "reverse racist policies" that voters repudiated by electing Donald Trump as president.
"What's they're trying to do is say we need to spend more money for these people and not those people because we have this data that says you should do that," Diamond said . "This is DEI. This is what Jacksonville voted against. We're tired of this."...
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/08/15/dei-cited-in-killing-funding-for-state-of-jax-site-backed-by-mayor/85652813007/?tbref=hp
Just so the facts are straight, the City of Jacksonville voted against Donald Trump all 3 times. Only when you add the Beach cities and Baldwin did Trump win Duval County in 2016 and 2024. So "This is what Jacksonville voted against" is a false statement and it's pretty on point that a city councilman representing the Beaches is leading the charge to cut funding for an initiative that could lead to more investment in the inner-city neighborhoods of Jacksonville
^ Another note to add:
Voters almost never 100% endorse any candidate's platform. They vote for the "closest fit." For Trump, the #1 reason he got votes was over the issue of inflation. Ironically, that's about to far exceed Biden's term While immigration was likely #2, something some of his supporters are also starting to regret, DEI wasn't on most people's radar.
DEI, DOGE and other Trump charges came with the 2025 agenda that was mainly supported by far right MAGA voters, who are not more than about 30%, if that much anymore, of the national electorate. And, when Trump was running, he falsely promised that he was not going to implement the 2025 agenda that he claimed to have no knowledge of. Another one of his "very big beautiful" lies. On that basis, even more did not vote for attacks on DEI.
Diamond is clearly pulling pages out of Trump's playbook but I suspect it isn't going to serve him as well as it has Trump. Most people are tired of the extreme partisanship that is resulting in constant negativity, threats to our institutions, divisiveness, social stresses, economic damages, and a general degradation of our quality of life.
Rory Diamond and his cohorts are at it again with partisanship and divisiveness. All this has nothing to do with a City budget other than to get one's name on the front page. How Diamond and company think this boosts their political standing is beyond me. I bet Deegan is secretly thrilled with their out-of-the-mainstream antics.
QuoteCity Council committee backs budget restrictions on abortion, DEI and illegal immigration
The City Council's Finance Committee clamped restrictions on the use of city taxpayer money for "DEI" programs, services to people who are in the country illegally, and abortions in its version of next year's budget.
Mayor Donna Deegan denounced the addition of the amendments filed by City Council member Rory Diamond. She said the "divisive amendments do not belong in a budget bill."...
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/08/22/jacksonville-city-council-takes-on-abortion-dei-and-immigration/85784951007/?tbref=hp
Rory Diamond, in cutting the City's data collection program, State of Jax, as he pushes for the removal of $13 million from the City budget covering public health, Meals on Wheels, affordable housing, DEI, etc. says:
Quote"What's they're trying to do is say we need to spend more money for these people and not those people because we have this data that says you should do that," Diamond said . "This is DEI. This is what Jacksonville voted against. We're tired of this."...
Now the City is giving multi-billionaire Shad Khan another $6 million, on top of $129.75 million previously, to complete the Four Seasons that will cater to multi-millionaire guests and condo owners. Interestingly, the $6 million is to make traffic improvements on the road the City and State just rebuilt in front of the Four Seasons for another $50 million at Khan's request.
Not sure of the breakdown between the hotel and the office building, but figure at least 67% has to be for the hotel. Thus, 67% x $374 million (the new cost number) is about $250 million. This comes to about $1.28 million per hotel + condo unit (170 hotel rooms + 26 condos)
with the City subsidizing about $465,000/unit! And, I would speculate Khan will take the penthouse condo for himself.
So, where is Diamond and his gang on spending "more money for these people and not those people?" Are we calling this DEI?
Basically, making housing and life "affordable" for the rich, not for low income residents.
QuoteDIA board supports $6 million incentive increase for Four Seasons Hotel and Residences
...The board voted 9-0 to recommend approval of the amendments, in which the city would increase a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant for the hotel by up to $6 million to reimburse Iguana Investments Florida LLC for the street improvements.
A DIA staff memo says Iguana has undertaken the project, which is designed to increase safety for motorists and pedestrians...
...To substantiate the higher REV Grant, Iguana's minimum capital investment would rise from $334.552 million to $373.962 million...
...In January 2023, Council approved a revised $129.75 million incentives deal with Iguana for what is now the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences and One Shipyard Place....
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/aug/20/dia-board-supports-6-million-incentive-increase-for-four-seasons-hotel-and-residences/
Quote...The Four Seasons Hotel and Residences will contain a five-star hotel with 170 rooms and a luxury condominium building with 26 private residences...
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/06/18/jacksonville-extends-four-seasons-hotel-and-residences-completion-date/84267764007/
Khan made a few hundred million overnight when the Stadium deal was passed. Just the facts of it all unfortunently. Nobody cares to highlight this because it's hard to admit or care about. The average person will not be informed & will be sold on all the positive PR. The devil is in the details & he worked the city well.
Another example of wasteful spending that our collective leaders aren't willing to address, yet we bicker over a few million here & there.
I think I saw in one of the articles that, on average, off the top of my head, property taxes would decrease by ~$2/month and ~$18/year (I understand that math doesn't add up, but that's what the article said). I think I'd rather just pay the $18/year.
Maybe I'm classist, but the only folks who would benefit are people with properties with a much higher value, and they can get reamed for all I care.
Everything is just politics and buzzwords. Everything time I read the local news these days, I'm more relieved that I don't have to be in that political world on a daily basis or talk big while living off the back of taxpayers.
I rather just pay the $18/year too. That's no real savings and definitely not anything to waste resources doing a press release around.
Quote from: Des on August 27, 2025, 09:25:56 AM
I think I saw in one of the articles that, on average, off the top of my head, property taxes would decrease by ~$2/month and ~$18/year (I understand that math doesn't add up, but that's what the article said). I think I'd rather just pay the $18/year.
Maybe I'm classist, but the only folks who would benefit are people with properties with a much higher value, and they can get reamed for all I care.
I believe the $18 is the average for all homestead exemption taxpayers based on average value less portability allowances* minus the $50,000 homestead and other exemptions (such as elderly, widowed, etc.). I roughly calculate that it might cost someone living in a $2 million valued home about $200 to $250. I doubt that would bother them either. It's all relative.
* Portability limits value increases on homesteaded property to the lower of inflation or 3%. Businesses are limited to the lower of inflation or 10% as I recall. As such, most property owners are not seeing increases greater than inflation and maybe way less. The increased income to the City is mostly driven by new construction/development which requires an expansion of City services. So, overall, the dollars per business and home unit are not necessarily rising more than the combination of inflation and expanded City services. Diamond and company are playing word games with the public that doesn't follow how things really work.