Jacksonville City Council voted against a proposed millage rate reduction Sept. 9, but another vote on the cut is expected Sept. 23.
Council voted 10-8, with member Chris Miller absent on a work assignment, to maintain the city’s millage rate at its current 11.3169 mills for its 2025-26 fiscal year. That is the rate recommended by Mayor Donna Deegan in her proposed $2.02 billion city operating budget.
However, Council can still adjust the rate downward when it takes a final vote on the budget Sept. 23. The vote count could swing that night because Miller has publicly expressed support for the cut.
Council member Ron Salem said he voted in the majority Sept. 9 in order to move the item forward but would vote for the cut Sept. 23.
With those votes, the margin would be 10-9 in favor of the proposed one-eighth mill reduction.
The city’s millage rate is one element that determines property taxes, with one mill equaling $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value. For the owner of a Jacksonville property with an assessed property value of $200,000 and a $50,000 homestead exemption, the annual tax savings of the proposed one-eighth mill reduction would be $18.75.
Council voted three times to maintain Jacksonville’s present millage rate at 11.3169, contained in Ordinance 2025-0501.
It initially passed 11-7, but Council members voted to reconsider it after member Terrance Freeman said he thought he had voted in favor of continuing discussion on the issue and not for the ordinance itself. Freeman and Council member Mike Gay then changed their votes, resulting in a 9-9 Council vote. Council then took the 10-8 vote, with Salem saying he voted in favor only to help Council meet a statutory requirement to set a maximum millage rate at the Sept. 9 meeting.
Walkout over abortion, DEI language
Several hours later, Reggie Gaffney Jr., Rahman Johnson, Jimmy Peluso and Ju’Coby Pittman, all Democrats, walked out of the meeting and were absent for about one hour after majority Republicans inserted language about abortion and diversity, equity and inclusion into one of the budget bills.
During their absence, Council again voted to reconsider the millage rate. The four Democrats returned to the meeting, and Council again voted 10-8 to maintain the current rate.
Council President Kevin Carrico, Vice President Nick Howland and Raul Arias, Joe Carlucci, Rory Diamond, Freeman, Gay, Will Lahnen, Miller and Salem are expected to vote for the cut in two weeks.
Members Ken Amaro, Michael Boylan, Matt Carlucci, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Gaffney, Johnson, Peluso, Pittman and Randy White are expected to vote against it. All nine of those members voted to maintain the current rate Sept. 9.
In a statement, Carrico pledged that when Miller returned Sept. 23, Council would pass the millage rate cut.
“Families across Jacksonville are stretched thin, and they deserve property tax relief,” Carrico said. “This Council has the chance to put $13 million back into taxpayers’ pockets this year and nearly $70 million over the next five years. On September 23, with the full Council present, we can reject higher taxes once and for all and deliver real relief for Jacksonville families.”
The cut would reduce city property tax revenue by $13 million for the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. To satisfy a statutory requirement for the city’s budget to be balanced, the Council Finance Committee, made up of a six-vote Republican majority, recommended cuts to proposed spending for several social programs.
Those cuts totaled $27 million, more than double the $13 million needed to balance the millage rate reduction.
In addition to the ordinance for Jacksonville, Council voted 12-5 to reduce the millage rate to 7.9012 from 8.0262 for Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach through Ordinance 2025-0502.
Council also voted 13-5 in favor of ordinance 2025-0503, which reduces the rate for Baldwin drops to 9.4208 from 9.5260.
Diamond, Lahnen, Carrico, Howland and Arias voted no on both ordinances. White was not present for the vote on Ordinance 2025-0502.
Public speaks out during Council hearing
The votes came after several residents spoke to the cuts, with a majority voicing opposition.
“If you really care – if your hearts really care about people – you will not cut this. Because your constituents deserve more than that,” Bobbie O’Connor said. “Stand up for those among you who have less than you do, who don’t have the privilege you have. These good people are the marginalized people among us, and their marginalization will increase tenfold.”
“You’re trying to do the right thing. You’re trying to stop the taxing and spending that’s going on in this Donna Deegan administration,” Blake Harper said. “On the other hand, you all are trying to put money back in our pockets. And you’re getting your heads taken off for it.”
Peluso urged Council to listen to the audience majority. They included leaders of the unions representing local police officers and firefighters, who issued a statement Sept. 5 opposing the reduction.
“We have before us our public safety, police and fire folks here this evening, clearly in support of maintaining our current millage we have before us,” Peluso said. “Residents of this fair city to pay taxes, who go to these parks, welcome these sidewalks to drive on these streets, who go to these schools, who go to these hospitals.”
However, those advocating for the cut said the public had been misinformed. Lahnen said an increase in the residential trash fee, adopted by Council in May 2025, would generate $340 million over the next five years while the millage cut would reduce funding by about $76 million over that time.
Member Joe Carlucci disputed that Finance Committee’s recommended cuts would reduce essential services, citing reductions recommended by Deegan’s office for road surfacing.
Howland, the Council vice president, said the budget passed through the Finance Committee was the most generous in the city’s history and included a record $150 million for nonprofit organizations that provide social services to the community.
Arias, the chair of the Finance Committee, questioned Council auditors about funding for first responders over the past three years. The numbers rose from steadily from $858 million in 2024-25 to more than $1 billion in the committee-recommended budget.
“I think it’s very clear. We support you guys, no matter what happens,” he said, referring to police and firefighters.
Arias also took issue with the Jacksonville Civic Council for publicly opposing the rate cut. Several members of the Civic Council, including former Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, a Republican, signed a letter urging Council to retain the current millage rate.
“The only pressure that I’ve been getting is actually from (the Civic Council),” Arias said. “I don’t care. I’ll win my next reelection without the Civic Council. Nobody will pressure me to make a vote based off of what they want.”
Despite cuts, city budget the largest in history
Deegan’s proposed budget, which did not include a millage rate reduction, would be the largest in the city’s history even with the $27 million cuts. The 2025-26 budget is about $110 million over the approved budget for the current year.
Much of the new funding came from a $40 million, one-time contribution from city utility JEA, which provides a portion of its revenue to the city annually, and property tax revenue that came in $40 million over projections.
According to analysis by the mayor’s office, 51% of her proposed operating budget goes to public safety. That funding is supported both by Deegan and the Council.
Council members who supported the millage rate reduction said taxpayers deserved relief amid inflation and increases in prices of consumer goods and services. They also cited a need to curb what they described as excessive growth in the city budget.
Deegan criticized the move as a political play as the city approaches mayoral and Council elections in 2027. She said the savings for taxpayers would be insignificant, while the spending reductions would inhibit the city from providing essential services to a growing population.
As Council prepares for the final vote on the rate cut and spending cuts, Carrico moved the time of the Sept. 23 meeting up to 3 p.m. to allow for what could be extensive discussion.