There will be a throwdown and maybe a showdown Tuesday as the City Council tussles over the city’s nearly $9 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning next month.

The council is almost evenly divided on the key issue.

One segment of the council favors the hefty property tax increase of $87 million proposed by Mayor Donna Deegan, Democrat. That segment includes three members who are registered Republicans.

The other faction wants a smaller tax increase of $74 million.

Despite the media blather, there is no tax cut being considered.

But the real fight isn’t about money. It is about the “Big Beautiful Amendments” sponsored by Council Member Rory Diamond.

Although the amendments seem quite reasonable, council members supporting the mayor have chosen them as a hill to die on.

The amendments prohibit spending taxpayer money on diversity, equity and inclusion, abortion or illegal immigration.

Support for killing unborn babies, open borders and racist policies is high among Democrats, and they prefer to force taxpayers to finance such policies.

“It’s a bogeyman,” Council Member Matt Carlucci said of the amendments. On the tax issue, he said,“I got 170 emails and six for a tax rate cut.”

The amendments had been in the budget ordinance but were removed during hearings.

The strategy of amendment supporters is to vote on restoring them to the budget before voting on the budget.

There are believed to be 11 votes in favor of the amendments, but two of those members cannot vote because of declared conflicts of interest.

The Lanahan Rule applies in most cases. The late, great Councilman John Lanahan said “With 10 votes you can do anything” on the 19-member council. But with two absent or abstained, the vote would be 9-8 in favor — if proponents have the expected vote count right.

With or without the amendments, there is a chance the budget might not pass because of the division.

That would mean chaos.

Not only would the city lose state revenue, but the state conceivably could take overcontrol of the city’s budget.

Another scenario is that the budget could be enacted and Deegan could veto the amendments, which the city’s general counsel has said she could do.

But the council needs only 10 votes to override her veto.

“We can’t let a small minority of council hold up the Jacksonville budget,” Diamond said.

No matter which side prevails, there is a possibility of the issue winding up in the courts.

Tuesday’s council meeting could be very interesting, and perhaps historic.