There are some Republicans on the City Council who seem wedded to the idea of getting along with the Democrat mayor, no matter what she does.

Council Member Rory Diamond is not one of them.

Diamond does not like budget games Mayor Donna Deegan has been playing and he is using his position on the powerful Finance Committee to limit her ability to follow a woke agenda.

Item No. 1 is that Deegan plans to do more deficit spending than Diamond believes is necessary or reasonable.

She wants to spend $47 million of the city’s operating reserves to finance some of her priorities. Diamon says that is several times the amount typically “borrowed” from reserves.

He proposes to limit the amount a mayor can take from the fund balance to 1 percent of the budget. He notes that the auditors have said moving into large deficits, as Democrats typically do in the federal government, could present fiscal problems for the city.

This week, the Finance Committee voted to defund the position of director of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity. DIE is a liberal fad that swept the country during the disastrous Biden administration but is being pared back in many other states and cities.

Diamond said Deegan also is a bit too frisky when it comes to moving money around in the budget, taking it from useful purposes and using it for liberal social programs.

The mayor is allowed to move $500,000 within the budget at a time. Diamond’s proposal would limit the amount to $100,000.

To make sure Deegan doesn’t find another way to fund her DIE programming, Diamond told Eye on Jacksonville he will propose an amendment to prohibit funding it from any source.

The DIE director is Parvez Ahmed. He is being paid $189,000 plus $42,000 in benefits. He also is listed as a professor at the University of North Florida.

Deegan was quoted by a small local newspaper as saying it was “an insult to voters” to cut DIE funding.

Diversity and inclusion are reality and don’t need to be promoted. Equity means equal outcomes, which is a promise communism makes but never delivers. Americans have equal opportunity, which is inherent in the freedom they enjoy.

Even with a $3.9 billion general government budget, Jacksonville has all it can do with building stadiums, replacing septic tanks, building the Emerald Trail and possibly replacing the county jail. But, given the limited ability of politicians and bureaucrats to foretell the future, keeping ample funds in reserve is prudent. Spending on silly social programs is an extravagance the city can ill afford.