With his eye on next year’s race for mayor, City Councilman Rory Diamond has picked an issue – and it is one with a potential wallop.

Diamond, (who has not declared himself a candidate for mayor), is complaining about and voting against city incentives for business.

This is something taxpayers actually care about, and it could explode.

The granddaddy of them all is the city’s agreement to pay half the cost of the football stadium renovation. That’s $775 million, with all the frills.

But the one Diamond zeroed in on is a proposal to pay $12 million to keep Winn-Dixie in Jacksonville.

That one has sparked some interest.

For decades, while it was owned by the Davis brothers, Winn-Dixie was a business most Jacksonville residents knew and appreciated.

It was started in Miami a century ago by four brothers: Artemus Darius Davis, James Elsworth Davis, Milton Austin Davis and Tine Wayne Davis. They moved to Miami and began buying grocery stores with money borrowed from their father, who owned successful stores in Idaho.

In 1944 the growing chain obtained 51 percent of Winn & Lovett stores and moved to Jacksonville. In 1955 it acquired the entire company and became Winn-Dixie.

The Davis family became heavily involved in Jacksonville social and civic affairs and bought up huge swaths of land.

Around the turn of the century, after the brothers had died, the company began developing a large tract at the border of Duval and St. Johns counties, which was named Nocatee. At that time, the business was losing ground and began closing stores. It filed for bankruptcy in 2005. None of the Davis family members have been associated with the company in the past 15 years.

After a number of corporate and name changes, the business was sold to Aldi’s in 2024. The parent company, Southeastern Grocers, became the Winn-Dixie Co. this year.

The Davis brothers, during the company’s heyday, brought the Mayo Clinic to Jacksonville, and donated heavily to Jacksonville University, Edward Waters College, Stetson University and the Boy Scouts.

But the current corporate structure is not the Davis family and, as far as Diamond is concerned, is just another business.

Businesses everywhere, not just Jacksonville, always look for “incentives” – handouts – from the taxpayers to locate or expand in a city. The threat, usually implied, is that they will move elsewhere without the money.

It is a sore point. Libs, of course, think of business only as a source of revenue for government, not as a vital part of the community.

But Mayor Donna Deegan, Democrat, who Diamond would oppose if he runs, has been open to incentives and filed the Winn-Dixie bill.

The issue is quite complex. Elected officials must balance the value of having a business with the cost. Incentives come in many forms, from outright grants to low-cost loans and discounts on taxes. The math can get complicated.

But a lot of people just have a gut feeling that handing out money to business is not a vital function of government, and some worry that it can hurt competitors who don’t get incentives. Others wonder if it is sometimes just vote-buying.

To sum it up, it could turn out to be a big issue, especially when associated with big names such as Winn-Dixie and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The bill Deegan sent to council totals $12 million, half in cash and the rest in a rebate on property taxes for five years.

Diamond, not one to mince words, calls the measure “extortion and communism.”

“I object to every single dollar to business from the city of Jacksonville,” Diamond told Eye on Jacksonville.

As for the prospect of Winn-Dixie leaving the city, he said, “I think they are bluffing.”