JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville City Council spent the day Thursday digging into the mayor’s proposed $2 billion city budget, but the biggest parts of the budget sailed through with few questions or concerns.
At $400 million and $673.6 million respectively, JFRD and JSO’s budgets make up more than half of the proposed $2 billion city budget.
Spending at JFRD is jumping about $12.5 million, while JSO is asking for an additional $35.6 million.
Council members had few questions and no critiques on the two budgets during the hearing, as the vast majority of the budget increases are driven by salaries and benefits.
In the fire budget, there are 22 new positions to staff a new fire station, which is currently being operated by firefighters working overtime.
“Having these actually funded next year will create some consistency at the fire station so it won’t be people transferring in,” said JFRD Fire Chief Percy Golden.
The JSO budget also includes 20 new positions for crime scene technicians, which Sheriff TK Waters explained will free up 20 officers to work the streets.
“We do not want to overburden our taxpayers and so we’re very careful with that. That’s why instead of asking for more positions at this point, we’re going to hire civilians to fill some of those positions and then put those guys back on the street,” said Waters.
With Amendment 3 looming on the horizon, which could eliminate hundreds of millions in city revenues if passed, we asked the sheriff if he considered those potential impacts while crafting JSO’s budget.
“No, not typically. Typically what’s in the back of my mind is the taxpayers of Duval County. I want to make sure they know their sheriff, our staff, is very cognizant and very careful with the way we spend their dollars,” said Waters.
There were also some additional costs this year in JSO’s budget to help facilitate the move of JSO headquarters into the Florida Blue Building.
The Sheriff said that move is expected to be more or less complete by the end of this fall.
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