Jacksonville City Government Guide

Mayor Donna Deegan and the 19-member Jacksonville City Council run the consolidated City of Jacksonville and Duval County government in October 2026.

Donna Deegan is Mayor of Jacksonville, and her office lists public safety, infrastructure and public works, and affordable housing and homelessness among her stated priorities (City of Jacksonville, Mayor). The Jacksonville city departments guide maps the city departments one by one.

Jacksonville City Council is the legislative body of the consolidated government (Jacksonville City Council). Its 19 members are elected to four-year terms and serve as part-time legislators. Fourteen members each represent a district of nearly equal population, and five represent the whole of Jacksonville at large. In May of each year the council elects a president and vice president for one-year terms that begin on July 1. Nick Howland, At-Large Group 3, is council president and Joe Carlucci, District 5, is vice president on the council's October 2026 roster.

Several offices sit outside the mayor's chain of command. The Jacksonville government directory lists the constitutional officers as the Clerk of the Courts, the Sheriff, the Property Appraiser, the School Board members, the Supervisor of Elections and the Tax Collector, and lists JEA, JAXPORT, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, the Downtown Investment Authority and the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority among the independent authorities (City of Jacksonville, Government). The same page lists the City of Atlantic Beach, the City of Jacksonville Beach, the City of Neptune Beach and the Town of Baldwin under Other Elected Officials.

The Jacksonville city council members guide profiles each seat, the Jacksonville city council districts guide explains the 14 districts and five at-large seats, the Jacksonville elected officials guide lists who holds which office, the mayors of Jacksonville guide follows the office back through earlier mayors, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority guide covers JTA, and the Office of General Counsel guide explains the single legal office that serves the whole consolidated government.

Jacksonville City Hall stands at 117 West Duval Street in Downtown Jacksonville, and the Office of the City Council works from Suite 425 there.

The Office of the City Council lists (904) 255-5122 for legislative issues only, with general matters directed to (904) 630-CITY (Jacksonville City Council staff and contact information). The council's main page gives (904) 255-5200 for questions to a district council member or the council office (Jacksonville City Council). Each Jacksonville council member has a direct line in the 255-52 range; the council president's line, for example, is (904) 255-5217.

Email sent to Jacksonville council members and staff is a public record under Florida law, and the council page tells anyone who does not want an email address published to contact the council by phone or in writing instead. Public records requests for City of Jacksonville documents go through MyJax online or by calling (904) 630-CITY with a description of the documents (Jacksonville Finance Committee budget page).

The Jacksonville Council District Search and the My Neighborhood application on the JaxGIS map site tell a resident which council member represents an address (Jacksonville City Council). The Duval legislative delegation guide covers the state legislators who represent Jacksonville in Tallahassee, a separate set of offices from City Hall.

The full Jacksonville City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall.

Every Jacksonville bill is assigned to one or more of the five standing committees for a recommendation before it reaches the full council, and those committees meet during the first and third weeks of each month in the Council Chamber (Jacksonville City Council). Council agendas are available from the Legislative Services Division in City Hall, Suite 430, on the Friday before a meeting. The Council Chamber is on the first floor of the St. James Building at City Hall (Jacksonville Finance Committee budget page).

Anyone who wants to address Jacksonville City Council during the public comment period fills out a speaker's request card with name, date, address and bill number or subject, and each speaker is limited to three minutes (Jacksonville City Council FAQ). Speakers on a bill up for public hearing also fill out a card and are called to the podium when the hearing on that bill opens, and their comments must stay on the subject of the bill.

The Jacksonville council meetings guide covers the meeting calendar, the guide to speaking at Jacksonville City Council walks through speaker cards and decorum, and the council standing committees guide explains what Finance, Land Use and Zoning, Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety, Rules, and Transportation, Energy and Utilities decide. The citizen planning advisory committees guide covers the neighborhood CPAC meetings, and the boards and commissions guide explains how citizen seats are filled and confirmed.

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee held its 2026-2027 budget hearings in August 2026, and the 2026-2027 budget is bill 2026-504.

Mayor Deegan presented the budget at a special Jacksonville council meeting on July 20, 2026, and the Finance Committee held Budget Hearing Meeting 1 on August 13, 2026 (Jacksonville Finance Committee 2026/2027 budget information). The committee page lists bill 2026-504 as tentatively approved, with floor amendments posted alongside it. Will Lahnen chairs the Finance Committee and Chris Miller is vice chair; the other members are Rory Diamond, Michael Boylan, Mike Gay, Rahman Johnson and Randy White.

Joyce Morgan is the Duval County Property Appraiser, whose office sets assessed values and handles exemptions (Duval County Property Appraiser). The deadline to file on time for a homestead exemption on the 2027 tax roll is March 1, 2027. A Jacksonville owner filing on paper instead of online submits the manual application to the Customer Service/Exemptions Division, Suite 260 at 231 E. Forsyth Street. For a Jacksonville tax bill, the phone split is simple: the appraiser at (904) 255-5900 answers assessment and exemption questions, the Tax Collector at (904) 255-5700 handles billing and payment, and the Value Adjustment Board takes appeals at (904) 255-5124.

The Jacksonville city budget guide walks through the consolidated budget, and the Jacksonville property taxes and millage guide explains TRIM notices and the council's millage vote.

Jacksonville ethics questions go to the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Oversight at City Hall, while zoning and land use questions go to the Planning Department.

The Office of Ethics, Compliance and Oversight, which also serves the Jacksonville Ethics Commission, is at 117 W. Duval Street, Suite 225, phone (904) 255-5510, and its director is Kirby Oberdorfer (Jacksonville Office of Ethics, Compliance and Oversight). The Jacksonville ethics hotline is (904) 630-1015. The ethics and oversight offices guide explains how that office, the inspector general and the council auditor divide the work, and the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission guide covers discrimination complaints under the city's human rights ordinance.

The Jacksonville Planning Department page lists a Community Planning Division, a Current Planning Division, a Historic Preservation Section with its Historic Preservation Commission, the Planning Commission, the Office of Resilience and a Live Local Act page (Jacksonville Planning Department). The zoning and Planning Commission guide follows a rezoning from application to City Council, the Jacksonville comprehensive plan guide covers the 2045 land use framework, the local landmark designation guide explains how Jacksonville buildings are landmarked, and the Resilient Jacksonville guide covers the city's flood and heat strategy. The municipal code compliance guide explains how property and nuisance rules are enforced, and the community redevelopment areas guide covers KingSoutel Crossing, Renew Arlington and the JIA CRA.

In fall 2026 the Duval County Property Appraiser has certified the 2026 Jacksonville tax roll, voters face a statewide property tax amendment on November 3, and the Property Appraiser's website is in transition.

The Duval County Property Appraiser says Amendment 3, a property tax amendment to the Florida Constitution, is on the November 3 ballot and would change the rules for homesteaded and non-homesteaded property; the office posts a list of frequently asked questions about it (Duval County Property Appraiser). The same page says the 2026 Final Tax Roll was certified on October 13, 2026. The same office says its website began transitioning on March 13, 2026, and that staff remain available at (904) 255-5900 during the change.

Jacksonville City Council also works through special committees that come and go with each council year. The October 2026 council site lists special committees on Drowning Prevention, the Community Benefits Agreement 2.0 and Duval DOGE (Jacksonville City Council). The council elects its president and vice president each May for one-year terms beginning July 1, so the council roster is the place to check who presides. The Jacksonville city elections guide explains how the unitary first and general elections for these offices work.

Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville website.

Twenty-four Jacksonville government guides go deeper than this hub, and the table matches the most common questions to the key fact and the guide that covers each one.

The Jacksonville guides not named in the table also include the Jacksonville departments guide, the citizen planning advisory committees guide, the boards and commissions guide, the Duval legislative delegation guide, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority guide, the Office of General Counsel guide, the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission guide, the local landmark designation guide, the municipal code compliance guide, the community redevelopment areas guide, the Resilient Jacksonville guide and the Jacksonville city elections guide.