JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville City Council member is raising concerns about conditions inside City Hall and is asking to set aside five hundred thousand dollars to address them. District 14 councilman Rahman Johnson wants to consider moving the funds ahead of Tuesday’s budget vote.
Council members are preparing to review 11 floor amendments that could shift hundreds of thousands of dollars into separate accounts before the budget is finalized. Seven of those amendments were submitted by Johnson.
“One of the ones I think that’s getting the most attention is for a council refresh,” Johnson said.
The amendment calls for updates to council offices inside a building that leaders have used for decades.
“I was told that carpets fading and carpet is tattered. There’s mold in the chairs. They can’t get them out. Desks are falling apart, conference tables,” Johnson said.
The funding would come from the public safety contingency fund. He says the fund’s name does not reflect its original intent, and that part of it was meant for council projects.
“If you look at the original budget that the administration submitted to the City Council for us to adopt, that specific original budget had ten million dollars for council contingency initiatives,” Johnson said.
Other council members have also proposed amendments requesting money from the same fund. Municipal dues and subscriptions total about two hundred thousand dollars, and affordable housing requests total more than four million nine hundred thousand dollars.
Johnson says he submitted additional amendments for voter outreach, United Way’s eviction diversion program and telehealth. All will be up for a vote Tuesday evening.
He says Florida’s looming Amendment 3 vote could create future budget challenges. In a statement Friday, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said the amendment would force the council to cut about three hundred million dollars from the 2028 to 2029 budget if it passes.
“It will be years before we’ll be able to realize any opportunity to do this work to ensure that the people’s hall is to do the people’s business,” Johnson said.
Mayor Deegan hosted her final budget town hall Monday night. The city council meeting Tuesday begins at 4 p.m.
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