Jacksonville's FY2026-27 City Budget: Spending, Revenue and the Capital Plan

Mayor Donna Deegan's proposed 2026-2027 budget for the City of Jacksonville carries a general fund of $2,026,502,015 and a one year Capital Improvement Plan of $586,110,854 (City of Jacksonville).

The mayor presented the plan to the Jacksonville City Council on July 20, 2026, and the City says it takes zero dollars from reserves for the second year in a row (City press release). The City's highlights page puts general fund growth at 1.1%, or $22,583,868 over the prior year, with no increase in non public safety staff for a second straight year, and lists a five year capital plan of $1,227,913,805 (FY26-27 Budget Highlights).

Those are proposed figures. As of October 18, 2026, the Jacksonville Council Finance Committee page lists the budget ordinance, 2026-504, as Tentatively Approved and posts its floor amendments, while the City Budget Office page still offers the FY26-27 Proposed Annual Budget and FY27-31 Proposed CIP as its documents (Council Finance Committee; Budget Office). The Finance Committee page posts the tentatively approved bill with its schedules, attachments and exhibits beside the floor amendments.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the Mayor's FY26-27 Jacksonville budget highlights, the Council Finance Committee bill list, the Budget Office document list and the Council Auditor's report index.

Public safety takes the largest share: $1,073,743,908, or 53% of the proposed Jacksonville general fund, equal to 83.1% of property tax revenue (FY26-27 Budget Highlights).

The City attributes most of the Jacksonville public safety increase to raises and returned pension benefits negotiated in multi year agreements with the police and fire unions (City). Other Expenses covers interlocal agreements with Baldwin and the Beach cities, unfunded pension obligations and debt service.

Within Direct City Services, Jacksonville Public Works is budgeted at $69,391,535, including $27,667,387 for mowing and landscaping, a $1.94 million increase (City). Parks, Recreation and Community Services gets $58,747,814, Public Libraries $45,745,274, Neighborhoods $12,295,668 and Planning and Development $4,874,965. The People Investments line includes $56,000,000 for UF Health indigent care, $57,390,322 for the Kids Hope Alliance and youth, $6,984,000 in Public Service Grants, $6,300,000 for housing and $4,705,256 for homelessness.

Property taxes supply $1,291,662,837, or 63.7% of proposed Jacksonville general fund revenue, and the City projects that line to grow 6% on rising values and new properties (FY26-27 Budget Highlights).

State shared revenue, meaning sales tax, gas tax and state license revenue, adds $225,952,033 (11.1%), the JEA contribution $151,481,319 (7.5%) and the utility service tax $122,854,579 (6.1%) (City). All other Jacksonville revenue sources total $234,551,247 (11.6%). The City notes that state sales tax and the communication service tax had notable decreases.

JEA's budget moves in its own bill: ordinance 2026-0512 adopts the FY26-27 budget for JEA (Council Finance Committee). Resolution 2026-0500 concerns the proposed 2026 millage rates and advises the Property Appraiser of the rolled-back rate, and ordinances 2026-0501 to 2026-0503 levy the 2026 taxes for the General Services District, for Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach, and for the Town of Baldwin.

The proposed $586,110,854 Jacksonville capital plan splits into general capital projects of $330,821,073 (56.4%), city venues of $221,100,000 (37.7%), stormwater and drainage of $25,339,781 (4.3%) and solid waste of $8,850,000 (1.5%) (FY26-27 Budget Highlights).

Among featured Jacksonville infrastructure projects, roadway resurfacing is set at $35,947,180, up $13.2 million, and septic tank phaseout at $25,000,000, up $16 million (City). Bridge repairs get $13,750,000, bulkheads $11,775,000, sidewalk repair $6,179,616 and new sidewalks $5,750,000.

Featured park and venue projects include $27,000,000 for the Museum of Science and History, $25,000,000 for Riverfront Plaza, $10,000,000 for Lonnie Miller Park, $8,000,000 for the Emerald Trail from Hogan's Creek to the Riverwalk, $5,750,000 for James Weldon Johnson Park and $5,000,000 for Shipyards West Park (City). Other lines include $24,000,000 for UF Health capital improvements and $10,000,000 for Jacksonville Sheriff's Office warehouse consolidation.

The five year Jacksonville plan is adopted by its own ordinance, 2026-0505, covering FYs 27 to 31; the Council listing says it waives a definitions section of the Ordinance Code so that roadway resurfacing can be counted as a capital improvement project for FY26-27 (Council Finance Committee).

Several pieces of the Jacksonville budget move in companion legislation beside the main ordinance 2026-504, according to the Council Finance Committee bill list (Council Finance Committee).

Bill 2026-0506 authorizes agreements with Shands Jacksonville Medical Center and the state Agency for Health Care Administration for $56,000,000 in indigent health care funds for FY26-27 (Council Finance Committee). Bill 2026-0509 appropriates $7,200,000 from special Council contingency accounts for Public Service Grants, $6,984,000 for three categories serving the most vulnerable and $216,000 for micro grants, and requires Council approval of the micro grant scoring process before money is distributed.

Bill 2026-0510 appropriates $5,279,951 from the Jacksonville Opioid Settlement Fund contingency for opioid and substance use disorder grants overseen by an abatement manager in the fire department, and 2026-0511 appropriates $50,323,032 to set the Kids Hope Alliance budget (Council Finance Committee). The Kids Hope Alliance figure in that bill differs from the $57,390,322 the mayor's highlights page shows for Kids Hope Alliance and youth combined (City).

One record keeping note: the Council page prints Enacted 09/23/2025 beside bills 2026-0510 and 2026-0511 and a 07/22/2025 date beside resolution 2026-0500, although all three carry 2026 numbers and the descriptions of 2026-0500 and 2026-0511 name the 26-27 fiscal year (Council Finance Committee). The Finance Committee lists its staff contact at the Jacksonville Legislative Services Division, 117 W. Duval St., Suite 430, (904) 255-5122.

The Council Finance Committee hears department heads, division chiefs, constitutional officers and independent authorities on the mayor's proposal and amends it with the Office of the Council Auditor, before the full Jacksonville City Council holds two public hearings on the amended budget (City budget process).

For 2026-27 the committee is chaired by Will Lahnen, with Chris Miller as vice chair and Rory Diamond, Michael Boylan, Mike Gay, Rahman Johnson and Randy White as members (Council Finance Committee). It held budget hearings on August 13, 14, 20, 21, 26 and 27, 2026 in the Council Chamber of City Hall, the St. James Building at 117 W. Duval Street, and posts notices, minutes, video and handouts for each.

The Office of the Council Auditor was created under Section 5.10 of the Jacksonville City Charter in 1968, and the current Council Auditor is Phillip Peterson, at 117 West Duval St., Suite 200, phone (904) 255-5500 (Council Auditor). Its reports page lists reports through #908, the quarterly summary for the nine months ended June 30, 2026, issued August 14, 2026, and does not yet list a budget summary for FY2026-27 (Council Auditor reports).

The Budget Office prepares the budget under Chapter 24 Part 5 of the Ordinance Code and posts current budget documents on the City budget page, with archived documents on a separate page (Budget Office). By law the full Council must approve the budget before October 1, the first day of the Jacksonville fiscal year (City budget process).