Leaders of a special committee of the Jacksonville City Council are discussing a proposal that would allow the Eastside neighborhood near EverBank Stadium to capitalize on increased tax revenue it stands to generate via the $40 million in funding it will receive from the city’s community benefits agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
During a May 5 meeting held by Council members Raul Arias and Jimmy Peluso, the respective chair and vice chair of the Special Committee on the Community Benefits Agreement, the two expressed support for creating a tax increment financing district in the Eastside.
Under the proposal, increased property tax revenue that would ostensibly entail from the infusion of funding from the community benefits agreement (CBA) would be reinvested within the community for infrastructure enhancements. Peluso said most TIFs allow for 95% of increased revenue to be captured within districts.
Minus the establishment of a TIF district, property tax revenue in the Eastside would be mixed into the city’s general fund for use throughout Duval County.
Arias said using TIF funding would provide long-term support for improvements in the neighborhood with a minimal effect on the general fund, given that the revenue being diverted into the district would only be what is generated above the current level. The current level of revenue would continue to flow into the general fund.
Both the Jaguars and city officials emphasized a need to improve the Eastside, which lags other areas of Jacksonville in household income and property values while suffering from above-average unemployment.
“The way I see it is that once you inject capital into a specific part of town, it will be exhausted fairly quickly, and then what? There needs to be sustainability,” Arias said.
“By having a TIF, that would just sustain the whole community and let it foster and grow as needed.”
The special committee was formed to make recommendations to the full Council on how to allot the CBA funding, how to structure the dispensation of the money and more.
Arias and Peluso said their goal was to submit the committee’s recommendations to Council before hearings on the 2025-26 fiscal year budget start in July.
TIF revenue is currently collected for use in the Downtown Northbank and Southbank Community Redevelopment Areas, the Renew Arlington CRA and the KingSoutel Crossing CRA.
In September 2024, Council approved the final piece of the CBA, a $94 million city contribution that included $40 million to the Eastside neighborhood over seven years, $40 million countywide over 15 years and $14 million divided equally between the 14 Council districts.
The money is to be used for affordable housing, workforce development and homelessness services.
Earlier, Council approved $56 million for the development of riverfront parks Downtown. That money also applies to the CBA.
For their portion of the agreement, the Jaguars are contributing a matching $150 million in funding over 30 years.
Council members already have approved one project that will count toward the city’s portion of the CBA. In April 2025, Council approved $3 million in funding for an esports arena at the University of North Florida’s John A. Delaney Student Union.
The facility is designed to attract national esports competitions to UNF, spur the development of esports and gaming in Northeast Florida and boost the university’s enrollment, particularly among students seeking degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.
The public funding for it is being designated under the CBA as contributing to workforce development in the county.
Peluso, whose District 7 includes the Eastside neighborhood, voted for the funding but said he would not support other projects until the city developed a strategy for its entire CBA contribution.
He cautioned his colleagues against proposing spending that would “eviscerate an important fund, an important tool we’re going to have to create a level playing field in this community.”
In October, NFL owners approved the CBA. It is the largest deal of its type in the league’s history.
The CBA was a companion to the $1.4 billion deal between the city and Jaguars to upgrade and modernize EverBank Stadium as the team’s “Stadium of the Future.”
Both the city and Jaguars contributed $625 million for the stadium transformation, with the city adding $150 million in deferred maintenance and capital improvements.
The new stadium will include such features as a roof cover, new and wider concourses and additional food and beverage options. It will feature a reflective exterior coating to reduce interior heat with openings at the corners to facilitate airflow in the seating areas.
Plans call for the Jaguars to play at EverBank in 2025-26 at a capacity similar to the current configuration, then play there again in 2026-27 with a reduced capacity of 43,500.
The team would then play either in Gainesville or Orlando in 2027-28 before the “Stadium of the Future” opens in August 2028.