{"id":356776,"date":"2026-07-29T21:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/356776\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T21:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:56:07","slug":"former-jacksonville-official-faces-questions-over-departure-gift-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/356776\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Jacksonville official faces questions over departure gift tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A longtime Jacksonville City Council tradition is sparking new scrutiny as the city braces for a tough budget battle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The outgoing council president traditionally gives parting gifts to fellow members, select staff, and city employees. But former Council President Kevin Carrico is facing questions over whether he took the tradition too far.<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n

Action News Jax\u2019s Ben Becker learned that Carrico used money from his council president budget to purchase 50 personalized $125 decanter sets – complete with two rocks glasses each and etched with his name – costing taxpayers $6,285, including shipping and other costs. <\/p>\n

Costly gifts<\/p>\n

Carrico\u2019s gift spending significantly outpaced his recent predecessors, nearly matching the combined taxpayer totals of the past four council presidents, which sat at nearly $7,400:<\/p>\n

2026 Kevin Carrico:\u00a050 decanter sets –\u00a0$6,2852025 Randy White:\u00a0None –\u00a0$02024 Ron Salem:\u00a024 Stanley Tumblers –\u00a0$1,6962023 Terrance Freeman:\u00a0100 glass coasters, 50 mini wooden baseball bats, 98 baseball stress balls –\u00a0$1,3152022 Sam Newby:\u00a0100 charging pads, 20 desk clocks –\u00a0$4,380<\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n

\u201cHe used poor judgment here,\u201d Councilman Matt Carlucci said. <\/p>\n

When asked by Becker what he would say to citizens upset about taxpayer money funding personal gifts, Carlucci conceded, \u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida law<\/p>\n

Under Florida law<\/a>, elected officials face three clear choices when receiving a gift that exceeds $100, such as Carrico\u2019s decanter sets:<\/p>\n

Keep it and disclose itPay down the differenceReturn it<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The fallout divided the council\u2019s response:<\/p>\n

Returned:\u00a0Six council members chose to return the gift outright, including Matt Carlucci, Rory Diamond, Ron Salem, Jimmy Peluso, Chris Miller, and Michael Boylan.Kept and Paid:\u00a0Twelve members kept the gifts and cut a $25 check to cover the difference over the $100 threshold. This group includes new Council President Nick Howland, Vice President Joe Carlucci (Matt Carlucci\u2019s son), Raul Arias, Ju\u2019Coby Pittman, Ken Amaro, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Mike Gay, Rahman Johnson, Will Lahnen, Reggie Gaffney Jr., Randy White, and Terrance Freeman.War of words<\/p>\n

When reached for comment, Carrico defended the practice and pushed back against the criticism:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is another manufactured controversy from the same liberal activists and media outlets that attack conservatives over anything. Council Presidents from both parties have presented commemorative gifts at the conclusion of their term for years… No one has ever tried to turn it into a scandal before. Anyone trying to make this an issue now is playing silly politics. I\u2019ll stay focused on delivering conservative results and fighting for the Jacksonville taxpayers who elected me.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

With the city looking toward difficult financial decisions ahead, Carlucci offered a final parting shot regarding Carrico\u2019s leadership tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was nothing but drama and [Carrico] seems to be the gift that keeps on giving more drama, I hope it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n

PAST COVERAGE FROM CARRICO\u2019S TERM:<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n

Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A longtime Jacksonville City Council tradition is sparking new scrutiny as the city braces for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,67332,28,348,116,4040,351,118,117,5896,349,145587,350,145588,346,345],"class_list":["post-356776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-city-budget","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-city-council","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-kevin-carrico","tag-northeast-florida","tag-parting-gifts","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-tradition-scrutiny","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}