When Mayor Donna Deegan presents her annual budget next month to the Jacksonville City Council, it will likely come with another year of record spending on police and fire and rescue services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office has asked the mayor to include $675.9 million for the department in the city budget, according to documents presented to the Mayor\u2019s Budget Review Committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a 5.9% increase over the $637.9 million t<\/a>he department received in the 2025-26 budget <\/a>approved by council members.<\/p>\n For the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, the budget could include a 2.3% increase to $396.4 million, if Deegan includes fire officials\u2019 full spending request.<\/p>\n Officials from both departments presented their spending plans and priorities Wednesday to the review board during a budget hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city\u2019s chief financial officer, Anna Brosche, tells Jacksonville Today that the biggest drivers of the jump in spending for public safety are salary increases.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe vast majority of the increases that you see in that $37.9 million are going to be related to personnel costs,\u201d Brosche said.<\/p>\n In 2024, Deegan negotiated big pay raises<\/a> with the police and firefighters unions in their collective bargaining agreement, which resulted in multiyear increases for the departments\u2019 employees.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Police and fire pension cost increases also are a factor. Collectively, the city\u2019s expenses for the retirement plans will rise by $7.98 million in the next fiscal year \u2014 that\u2019s $209.38 million up from $201.39 million.<\/p>\n Big budget requests<\/p>\n The requests presented Wednesday are not the final budget numbers, and the totals could go up or down before Deegan pitches her spending plan to City Council. City lawmakers also will have any opportunity to make changes during budget hearings in August before a final vote at the end of September.<\/p>\n A budget breakdown from the Sheriff\u2019s Office shows the cost for correctional services is expected to grow by $11.86 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to salaries and other employee benefits, the Sheriff\u2019s Office says it needs $3.65 million for contractual increases linked to security guards working with inmates at UF Health Shands and the Juvenile Assessment Center, inmate food service and health services.<\/p>\n There are also added costs related to body cameras and the move of the department\u2019s administrative office from the Police Memorial Building on Bay Street to the Florida Blue office tower in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n The budget breakdown says the Sheriff\u2019s Office will need $6.73 million for building rental and lease leases, \u201cprimarily due to a full year of the Florida Blue lease, as well as the movement of expenses related to the body-worn camera agreement and Shotspotter,\u201d the document says.<\/p>\n The agency\u2019s $675.9 million budget request does not include an additional $5.39 million in line items the Sheriff\u2019s Office says it would like the mayor\u2019s office to add.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the top of that priority list is $1.627 million annually for a warehouse lease for property and evidence, forfeiture and special teams.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic safety is certainly at the top of the list in terms of consideration if we have the capacity to include these (enhancements),\u201d Brosche said.<\/p>\n At Fire and Rescue, in addition to salaries, the fire department will see new fleet and equipment expenses with the expected opening of Fire State 78 at the end of 2027 or in early 2028, she said.<\/p>\n Property tax referendum<\/p>\n Like her predecessor, Mayor Lenny Curry, Deegan has increased public safety spending in all of her annual budgets. The administration is making final budget decisions now and Deegan will present her budget to the City Council in July.<\/p>\n Deegan has made police and fire funding a stated priority since she was elected in 2023. That as there\u2019s been pressure by local activists to reform or reduce spending at the Sheriff\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n If these budget requests make it through unaltered, Deegan will have increased Sheriff\u2019s Office spending by about $90 million from her first budget in 2023<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Deegan administration officials say the property tax cut referendum set for the November ballot has not been a factor while drafting this year\u2019s city budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n