JULY 17 TO JULY 23, 2025 | JAXDAILYRECORD.COM
BUSINESS & LEGAL NEWS IN BAKER, CLAY, DUVAL, NASSAU AND ST. JOHNS COUNTIES
PROPOSED CITY BUDGET CLIMBS PAST $2 BILLION No property tax rate increase: But you may pay more for rising values; public safety is the biggest expense.
Mayor Deegan: “This isn’t a time to pat ourselves on the back and slow down. It’s time to lengthen our stride.”
INSIDE
RESTAURANTS
First Raising Cane’s in city opens to a big crowd PAGE 10
REAL ESTATE
Retired DIA CEO sells San Marco estate to developer PAGE 3
City of Jacksonville
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan presents her 2025-26 city budget to City Council on July 14. The budget is 7.4% more than last year.
BY RIC ANDERSON MANAGING EDITOR
J
acksonville Mayor Donna Deegan is proposing a $2 billion 2025-26 municipal operating budget with a roughly $110 million spending increase over the adopted 2024-25 version. In a July 14 presentation to City Council, Deegan also proposed a five-year Capital Improvement Plan with $687 million in firstyear spending, an increase of $198 million over what Deegan recommended and Council adopted in 2024. Offering her third budget and CIP since being elected before the 2023-24 budget year,
Deegan once again did not recommend an increase in the property tax rate. However, taxpayers whose property values increased would pay a higher tax bill. Much of the new operating budget funding goes toward providing $100.1 million in salary and pension increases to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department employees, which Deegan and Council approved in 2024. In her remarks to Council, Deegan said the increases had resulted in higher recruiting rates for emergency responders, with applications to JSO increasing by nearly 50%.
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INSIDE On the rise: Chart shows how the Jacksonville city budget has grown over the past decade. Page 6 Where money is going: A look at the spending by the city departments and the most expensive items in the Capital Improvement Program. Page 7
SEE BUDGET, PAGE 6
DEVELOPMENT
New shopping center for Yulee The Shoppes at Yulee proposed off Florida 200 just west of Interstate 95, near the Wildlight community, would be anchored by a retail store the size of a Walmart Supercenter. PAGE 8 REAL ESTATE
THE MATHIS REPORT
Why Acosta Group moved to a new HQ The 98-year-old global marketing, retailing and brand placement company, relocated its headquarters Southside Quarter along Gate Parkway. PAGE 4
Gateway Jax adds to holdings Gateway Jax, which is developing Pearl Square in Downtown Jacksonville, buys nine properties around the project totaling 1.8 acres. PAGE 12
VOLUME 112, NO. 36 | TWO SECTIONS | PUBLISHED SINCE 1912