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Property tax rate unchanged, Jacksonville budget sails to passage

In the city’s five-year capital improvement program, the budget has money for Mayport dock development, the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens and more.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville City Council easily approved a 2019-20 budget that holds the property tax rate steady and follows the contours of the budget blueprint submitted by Mayor Lenny Curry in July.

In Curry’s first four years as mayor, his budgets all won unanimous backing from City Council. That streak ended Tuesday evening when the 18-1 vote approved his fifth budget. City Council member Garrett Dennis voted against the budget, saying he thought it doesn’t reflect “the true needs of the city” and his District 9 constituents.

The council’s Finance Committee pored through Curry’s proposal during a series of meetings in August and recommended approval by the full council.

Starting Oct. 1, the general fund portion of the budget will total $1.37 billion, a 4.4 percent increase over the current year for the day-to-day operations of city government. The capital improvement program will total about $173 million and pay for dozens of projects such as street resurfacing, sidewalk construction, park enhancements and drainage.

One of the largest expenditures will be $20 million for building improvements at the UF Health Jacksonville complex on Eighth Street, which is the main hospital for care of poor residents. The money is the second installment in a six-year, $120 million commitment for UF Health Jacksonville.

RELATED: Mayor's proposed budget asks for $42 million increase in JSO budget

The city’s property tax rate would stay at 11.4419 mills, which is about $11.44 in taxes per $1,000 of taxable property value.

For the owner of a $150,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption, the millage rate would result in $1,144 in taxes for the city portion of the tax bill, not including taxes from schools and other governmental entities.

Many property owners still will get bigger tax bills because the real estate market is driving up property values. For homeowners, the Save Our Homes provision in state law caps this year’s increase in taxable property value for a homestead property at no more than 1.9 percent.

Public safety is the biggest part of the budget for the Sheriff’s Office and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. The Kids Hope Alliance also would get a funding boost for expansion of programs geared toward young people and a juvenile justice diversion program.

In the city’s five-year capital improvement program, the budget has money for Mayport dock development, the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, the Florida Theatre, the Ritz Theatre, the Prime Osborn Convention Center and historic Norman Studios in Arlington.

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