Mayor Deegan’s 2026 Budget Address
Watch the Budget Address
Full Remarks
Good morning, Council President Howland, Vice President Carlucci, members of the City Council, constitutional officers, members of my administration, city employees, community leaders, and neighbors watching from across Jacksonville.
To those of you on the dais, thank you for your dedication to our city. I’m looking forward to the work ahead. My sincere hope is that we will keep our focus on the present and not let the next political season prevent us from working together to make progress. Because Jacksonville is a city on the rise.
We’re a national leader for jobs and small business. More and more cranes are popping up all over downtown. The inventory of attainable housing is growing. Historically disinvested neighborhoods are seeing long-awaited infrastructure improvements.
This momentum is both significant and fragile. It takes an active force to keep it going, and we can’t stop now. Let’s keep pushing forward so Jacksonville can meet its promise as a city.
Council President Howland, congratulations. At your installation, I noticed the pride on the faces of your boys.
And parent to parent – I can hear in your voice how proud you and Malou are of the young men they are becoming. I look forward to working with you to build a city where our children – and someday maybe our grandchildren – will live, work, play, and benefit from projects we are building together.
That work continues today with the delivery of our proposed $2 billion budget.
A budget that only rises by 1% over the previous year. And let me be clear: the only reason for the rise is because we made a promise to do right by our first responders three years ago and we continue to keep that promise.
In addition, for the second year in a row, it does not draw from our ample reserves or increase the number of non-public safety employees. I want to be very clear about the key principle which guided our decisions about what and how much to invest.
Every dollar in this budget started with someone who got up early, opened a business, worked a double shift, drove a truck, taught a class, fixed an air conditioner, served in uniform, cared for a patient, waited tables, built a home, and kept our city moving in ways that too often go unseen.
I see you. I appreciate you. And I want you to have more of your money.
Life is getting more expensive. The cost of groceries, insurance, rent, home repairs, and childcare are all on the rise.
And when a family looks at its budget, there is no such thing as an extra dollar. Every dollar has a purpose.
The same must be true in city government.
Taxpayers do not owe government the benefit of the doubt.
We owe taxpayers proof.
Proof that we know the money is not ours. Proof that we will not spend it simply because it is available. Proof that each dollar invested delivers a positive return for citizens.
In our analysis of the economic value generated by city services, each tax dollar provides nearly three dollars in return. With that in mind, every spending decision we make is geared to make Jacksonville more affordable. And we do that by making it healthier, safer, more competitive, more prosperous, and more prepared for the future.
That is the standard for the budget I present today.
By that standard, the state of our city is strong and getting stronger.
Independent experts – not political candidates, consultants, or pundits – have looked closely at our finances. They have reviewed our budget management, our economy, our tax base, our debt, our capital planning, and our strategy for the future.
Their conclusion is clear: Jacksonville is financially strong and getting stronger.
Last year, Fitch upgraded our credit rating by two levels to double-A-plus. S&P Global and KBRA reaffirmed our top tier double-A rating as well. The Government Finance Officers Association recognized the quality of our budget.
Those ratings are not trophies for City Hall. They are savings for taxpayers.
They lower the cost of borrowing. They keep today's investments from becoming a higher cost tomorrow. They tell investors Jacksonville is serious, stable, and well managed. They tell businesses this is a city worth betting on. They tell families their city is not drifting – it is driving forward.
This budget continues that discipline and shows that fiscal responsibility is not a slogan. It is a core principle.
This budget also reflects partnership with the City Council. It fulfills the Council's request for ten million dollars to support strategic planning priorities.
Now I want to begin with the priorities residents expect us to put first: public safety and infrastructure.
Infrastructure is not abstract. It is daily life.
It is the road you drive to work. The sidewalk your child uses to get to school. The drainage system that protects your home in a storm. The septic tank phase-out that protects neighborhoods and waterways. The public buildings where services are delivered. The parks, pools, libraries, fire stations, technology systems, and public safety facilities that allow a city of a million people to not just function but to thrive.
We paved more miles in the last three years than in any three-year period over the last decade.
But in every town hall, every interview, and even in chats along my morning run, I hear the need to do more to make our roads smoother.
That’s why we are bumping the road resurfacing budget up to $36 million to increase road resurfacing across the entire city.
Every child who walks to school or a bus stop, every family who takes the dog out for a walk, all know that good sidewalks are essential for a safe city.
That’s why we are investing $12 million in new and repaired sidewalks.
And we are more than doubling our commitment for septic tank phase out to $25 million. Another $25 million is going towards stormwater drainage projects that provide a six to one return on investment in avoided flood losses.
These are not luxuries. They are the bones of the city.
If they are weak, everything else costs more. If they are strong, everything else becomes possible.
We also have to be honest about capacity. Jacksonville has carried a capital project backlog for years. There were promises made with no clear plan to deliver them. That is not ambition. That is hidden debt.
We ended that practice two years ago, and we will continue right-sizing the Capital Improvement Plan.
Our $586 million plan prioritizes projects that are ready, necessary, and valuable. We will use pay-go where appropriate. We will resist the temptation to pretend every good idea can be funded immediately.
A growing city also needs a thriving center and strong neighborhoods.
For too long, people joked that Jacksonville was a city of renderings. Politicians talked about potential. That word always bothered me because it can become a way of settling for less than action.
In the last three years, we have turned renderings into reality and potential into production.
Downtown's development pipeline is measured in billions of dollars. The riverfront is becoming a public asset worthy of a world-class city.
This budget continues to build out the public infrastructure – including our riverfront park system – that is bringing more and more people together downtown. And we’re seeing the results in action. Look no further than our America 250 celebrations, which brought more than 71,000 people to the north and south banks.
Parks do more than bring our community together. Increased physical activity leads to better health outcomes and lower healthcare costs that deliver a three-to-one return on investment.
A stronger downtown also expands the tax base for the whole city. A stronger riverfront creates public space for the entire city. A stronger arts and entertainment ecosystem brings visitors, spending, and energy that support businesses across the city.
A stronger city center helps Jacksonville compete for companies, jobs, workers, students, conventions, and families who have choices.
Then we turn that growth – and the revenue that comes from it – into quality of life for every neighborhood, with smoother roads, safer sidewalks, cleaner streets, better drainage, more mowing, maintained parks, open pools, libraries that meet people where they are, and community centers that give people a place to belong.
These are the things neighbors feel. They are how we create big city opportunities while holding onto our small town feel.
Public safety remains our most important responsibility.
Our $1.073 billion commitment continues historic investments in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. As promised, it delivers a third year of salary increases and returns our first responders to a defined benefit pension. It invests in the equipment, training, and technology to support those who bravely protect us. As a result, both departments are delivering incredible results. Recruitment and retention are way up.
I commend Sheriff Waters and JSO for keeping us safe and delivering a significant reduction in homicides and gang activity that is permanently changing neighborhoods for the better.
I commend Chief Golden and JFRD for rescuing our neighbors and maintaining a top ISO rating that generates $300 million per year in property insurance savings.
Every officer and firefighter in this room also knows something else: public safety is not just arrests and firefighting.
It does not begin at the moment of crisis.
It begins before the call.
That is why we are fortifying Journey Forward, including juvenile justice diversion efforts that deliver a ten-fold return in economic value.
Because public safety begins when a child has somewhere safe to go after school. It begins when a young person has a mentor. It begins when someone suffering a mental health crisis can be helped before harm is done. It begins when a returning citizen has a path to work.
That is why prevention is not separate from public safety.
The same is true of health.
Poor health does not remain private. It shows up in emergency rooms, missed work, schools, public safety calls, family instability, and the economic life of the city. When people can work, they can pay their bills and provide for their families. And that’s good for everyone.
The Council Auditor confirms that Healthlink Jax saved citizens and emergency rooms $9.3 million through a $2 million program – nearly a five to one return on investment. Our eldercare food insecurity work delivered more than 271,000 meals and reduced the waiting list by 66 percent.
Our support for the 988 crisis call center is contributing to a 98.7 percent de-escalation rate, which is helping people in crisis before the crisis becomes something worse.
You may never use telehealth. But you benefit when your child with the broken wrist doesn’t have to wait twice as long because the ER is overcrowded with flu patients. You benefit when first responders are available for true emergencies. You benefit when workers and employees and teachers stay healthy. And you benefit when the most expensive form of care is not the first and only form of care.
That is a tax dollar coming back as savings. That is a tax dollar coming back as public safety. That is a tax dollar doing its job to build a more affordable city.
Housing that is affordable is another citywide return.
Housing affordability affects hiring, traffic, schools, family stability, and the ability of businesses to grow.
A city growing as fast as we are must remain a city where working people can live.
That is why, for the fourth year in a row, we are dedicating local dollars to building more housing that’s affordable.
The $6.3 million total investment includes the highly successful Emergency Rental and Eviction Protection program proposed by the City Council’s Critical Quality of Life Committee and an heirs property program that helps families build generational wealth. It also seeds an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that will now have more than $5.5 million in it to build more housing that’s affordable for lower-income levels and to assist first-time home buyers.
If the working people who run our city cannot afford to live here, then we cannot compete. Housing is not simply a social concern. Housing is workforce infrastructure.
Homelessness is also a fiscal issue. Compassion alone would compel us to act. But fiscal responsibility does too. These efforts save five dollars in costs for every one dollar invested in getting a person back on their feet.
Leaving people in crisis is expensive for fire rescue, hospitals, law enforcement, courts, neighborhoods, and businesses. Doing nothing is more expensive than funding what works, measuring outcomes, coordinating services, and reducing the most costly forms of crisis response.
This budget fully funds JFRD’s PATH outreach team, the previous shelter bed expansion, Mental Health Offender Program, and Urban Rest Stop.
That brings me to a question we hear often, and it deserves an honest answer.
Someone may say: I do not use telehealth. I don’t personally need affordable housing. Why should I help pay for it?
In a city of a million people, not everyone will use the same service, visit the same park, need the same program, or personally enjoy the same event.
That is not a flaw in a city. That is what a city is.
Not every investment is personally used by every resident. But every responsible investment should return value to the whole city. And in this budget, they do.
Two clear examples of this are funding for Public Service Grants and the Cultural Council, which maintain levels of support on par with the previous year.
Public Service Grants support nonprofit organizations meeting needs this community has identified as priorities: children, seniors, families in crisis, survivors, people with disabilities, and residents facing a variety of challenges that can quickly become emergencies if left unaddressed.
By the same token, arts and culture are not decoration. They are economic infrastructure, youth development, neighborhood identity, tourism, small business support, and talent attraction – with a twenty-to-one return on investment.
You may never personally need one of those nonprofit services or visit an art installation. But our city is stronger, safer, and more vibrant because these services exist.
Speaking of being competitive, there is no better return than the investments we make in children.
We are investing with our partners at Kids Hope Alliance who are laying the foundation for future success. When children are safe after school, parents can work. When parents can work, small businesses stay staffed. When children read, graduate, and find opportunity, the city gains in productivity, earnings, innovation, and civic life.
These benefits are multiplied sixfold for every dollar that supports early education.
Meanwhile, we continue to invest in public libraries, which provide a five-to-one return, and our River City Readers program keeps moving the needle. With that support and thanks to the hard work of every educator at Duval County Public Schools, literacy scores are way up in Jacksonville.
And that’s important because a third grader reading on grade level today is part of tomorrow's workforce, tomorrow's tax base, tomorrow's small business community, and tomorrow's public safety outcome.
That is the ROI of hope – made real.
Before I go further, I want to congratulate the incredible people at DCPS. For the second year in a row, Team Duval has earned an A rating – this time under stricter state requirements.
That achievement belongs to Superintendent Dr. Bernier, the School Board, teachers, principals, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, support staff, parents, volunteers, and most of all, to the students who rose to meet higher expectations.
City Hall does not run our schools. But we all know strong schools are vital to Jacksonville's future.
They strengthen neighborhoods. They support property values. They give parents confidence that Jacksonville is a place where their children can thrive. And they attract job creators.
When Duval County Public Schools earns an A, that is good news for students and teachers. It is also good news for our economy, our neighborhoods, and our future.
A few months ago, Jacksonville was named a Great American Defense Community because of the support we provide our active duty military and veteran communities. That support includes continued progress on the Memorial Wall shade structure, Veterans Community Center, and growing outreach to the heroes who served.
With an eye towards the future, this budget also connects a priority I share with President Howland: economic development. Our budget includes tools to attract new employers, Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business support, and workforce development efforts, including $4 million for the Out East community benefits agreement. With these initiatives, our already hot job market is poised to get even hotter.
All the other priorities being funded in the budget are setting our economy up for success as well. Because a city competing for jobs is also competing for people. Businesses choose places where their employees can build a life, not merely earn a paycheck.
When you look at libraries, parks, healthcare, housing, and youth programs through that lens, you see a positive and measurable economic impact.
It’s a big part of why so many companies want to invest and expand here. Yes, we have low taxes and a fantastic business environment. But we’re also a wonderful place to live and raise a family – because of our laser focus on creating a good quality of life for our citizens.
I want to challenge the way we talk about core government. Too often, we divide city services into two categories: core and discretionary.
Police and fire are core. Roads and drainage and picking up the trash are core. Everything else gets labeled as optional. But it doesn’t work that way in practice.
Our city is a system. When one part fails, costs show up somewhere else. When one part improves, the whole improves.
So the question is not whether a line item sounds traditionally core. The question is whether it advances the core purpose of a city: safety, opportunity, prosperity, and quality of life at a price people can afford.
Housing that keeps workers near jobs is workforce infrastructure. After school programs that keep children safe and parents employed are economic infrastructure. Nonprofits that stabilize families are public safety infrastructure. Arts and culture that support small businesses and attract talent are economic development infrastructure.
Telehealth that diverts non-emergency care away from emergency rooms is healthcare infrastructure.
Libraries that support literacy, job searches, small business resources, and technology access are opportunity infrastructure. Parks that improve wellness and create places of belonging are civic infrastructure.
By that measure, many programs that have been called discretionary are actually upstream core investments. That is how we should evaluate a world-class city budget.
And we should never confuse inaction with conservatism. Sometimes the most expensive thing government can do is nothing. Because maintenance deferred is not savings. It is hidden debt.
The road we fail to maintain becomes the road we must rebuild. The drainage project we delay becomes the neighborhood that floods again. The permitting system we neglect becomes the business that opens somewhere else. The family we fail to stabilize becomes an emergency call, an eviction, a hospital visit, or a crisis that costs way more than prevention ever would have.
Fiscal responsibility does not mean refusing to spend. It means asking what works, what lowers future costs, and what makes Jacksonville more affordable to live in because the city works better.
Now, I know there will be debate. There should be.
Every member of this Council has a duty to ask hard questions. Every taxpayer has a right to expect clear answers. My administration welcomes that process.
We will defend the investments we believe in. We will listen where improvements can be made. And we will continue working with every council member who wants to move our city forward instead of backward.
This budget reflects the people it serves: bold and thoughtful; compassionate and accountable; responsible and not afraid of the future.
Because Jacksonville's future is worth investing in.
We are not the owners of this city. We are its guardians.
Today I make one simple promise to our citizens: your money will build a safer, healthier, and more affordable Jacksonville.
That is the city you have earned. That is the city we will deliver. That is change for good.
Thank you. May God bless you.
And may God continue to bless the people and this city we love.
Downloads
More Budget Information
For event dates, budget highlights, revenue and spending breakdowns, capital investment information and other resources, visit the Mayor’s Budget Town Hall Series.