totaling more than $2 billion<\/a>. Since then, council members have spent weeks reviewing the plan line-by-line through the City Council Finance Committee. The full council is scheduled to take up the budget later this month \u2014 a meeting that in past years has stretched late into the night.<\/p>\nAffordable housing funding cut draws public outcry<\/p>\n
During Tuesday\u2019s City Council meeting, multiple speakers used public comment to urge council members to restore $4.9 million that had been included in the mayor\u2019s proposal for affordable housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe affordable housing trust fund is very important,\u201d one speaker told council. Another called it \u201ca desperate need for affordable housing in this beautiful city.\u201d<\/p>\n
City staff has said the $4.9 million could assist roughly 600 to 700 households through a mix of single-family and multi-family programs, including down payment assistance and a utility tap-in program.<\/p>\n
At a separate meeting Tuesday, Councilman Matt Carlucci said he plans to propose an amendment on Sept. 22 to put the funding back into the budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an important issue to Jacksonville. I hear about it all the time as an at large council member.\u201d Carlucci said.<\/p>\n
Carlucci described \u201cworkforce housing\u201d as help for residents such as first responders, nurses and teachers who may not qualify for traditional assistance but still struggle to afford a home in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many people in Jacksonville that need a place to call home and I think it\u2019s worth fighting for so I\u2019m going to keep at it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Finance chair: revenue uncertainty driving cautious budget choices<\/p>\n
Council Finance Chair Will Lahnen said the budget was crafted with uncertainty in mind because of a Nov. 3 vote on property tax changes that could affect local revenue early in the new budget year.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keeping with the mantra that this is not the year for new things given the uncertainty,\u201d Lahnen said. \u201cWhy do we want to move something from this bucket to that bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lahnen said any attempt to add funding back into the budget should include a clear plan for what would be cut or reduced to keep the budget balanced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping a council member leads with what the offset is,\u201d Lahnen said, referring to last-minute budget amendments.<\/p>\n
He also argued that some housing-related programs \u2014 like down payment assistance \u2014 have been funded through other sources in prior years, and questioned shifting those costs into the city\u2019s general fund during a period of uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Council president points to contingency plan tied to November vote<\/p>\n
City Council President Nick Howland said council leaders believe they have crafted a strong budget while limiting overall spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have fully funded public safety, fully funded critical infrastructure, fully funded essential services while spending less than the year before,\u201d Howland said.<\/p>\n
Howland said the potential revenue impacts of the property tax question \u2014 referred to by council members as Amendment 3 \u2014 have been part of the discussion throughout the budget process. He said the budget includes contingency funding that could be used depending on the outcome of the November vote.<\/p>\n
What happens next<\/p>\n
The full City Council is scheduled to vote on the budget on Sept. 22. Carlucci has said he plans to offer an amendment that would restore the $4.9 million for affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Even if the budget passes, council leaders have emphasized that funding decisions could shift later in the year depending on the result of the Nov. 3 property tax vote and the city\u2019s revenue outlook.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville City Council is closing in on a final vote on the city\u2019s next budget…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1571,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-394369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-affordable-housing","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394369","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=394369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}