Mayor Donna Deegan’s proposed $3.9 billion budget should get close scrutiny from the City Council.
It would continue to spend excessive amounts of other people’s money on social programs and fanciful but unnecessary infrastructure.
Councilman Rory Diamond, who is a member of the Finance Committee, called the budget “wildly irresponsible.”
“Money is just thrown everywhere, at anything,” Diamond told Eye on Jacksonville.
“Higher taxes are coming to Jacksonville if the Republican super majority doesn’t act.
“And we will.”
Deegan proposes spending from reserves rather than increasing the tax rate.
That’s not necessarily bad but, at some point, the money should be replaced as a good budget practice.
Deegan also has a $395 million capital outlay budget. To her credit, the budget shows what items have been changed.
The taxpayers also will be making their first payment for “community benefits” outlined in the Jaguars lease agreement.
The proposed budget also shows pension costs rising substantially. It also would add 40 cops and 60 firefighters and provide pay raises.
Once again, as in past years, the local media almost universally published an inaccurate figure for the budget, varying from $1.75 billion to $1.9 billion.
You don’t have to read the entire almost 400-page budget to get the correct information. It is shown on Page 9 in a comparison of the total budget for the current fiscal year and next year.
This does not include funding for the independent authorities.
One disappointing line in Deegan’s budget address to the council was her reference to “the broken promises of consolidation.” This is a liberal myth about the consolidation of city and county governments in 1968 that Democrats use to justify wasteful spending.
What makes it especially infuriating is that consolidation was a bipartisan effort with many local Democrats fully supporting the effort. So, today’s Democrats are blaming mostly dead Democrats for something they did not do.
