{"id":404052,"date":"2026-09-18T23:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T23:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/404052\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T23:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T23:16:09","slug":"jacksonville-advisory-board-outlines-possible-budget-cuts-if-amendment-3-passes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/404052\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville advisory board outlines possible budget cuts if Amendment 3 passes"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve Amendment 3<\/a>, a proposal that would expand property tax exemptions for homesteaded properties and reduce the amount of money local governments collect.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Growing concerns over Amendment 3 as more groups speak out against the property tax proposal<\/a><\/p>\n

If approved, the amendment could reduce Jacksonville\u2019s annual revenue by about $300 million by fiscal year 2029, according to estimates cited by city auditors.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville TRUE Commission \u2014 Taxation, Revenue and Utilization of Expenditures \u2014 is examining the city\u2019s finances and considering strategies to balance the budget if the amendment passes.<\/p>\n

The independent advisory board is not recommending across-the-board cuts. Instead, TRUE Commission Chairman Ramon Day said the board is recommending that the city protect core public safety services, including police and fire, while considering reductions in other areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne recommendation would be a 3% limit on salary increases for all city employees not subject to a collective bargaining agreement,\u201d Day said.<\/p>\n

Other strategies under consideration include:<\/p>\n

A 2% automatic spending cut across nonpublic safety departments<\/p>\n

Zero-based budgeting, which would require departments to justify every dollar they spend<\/p>\n

Monthly budget constraints requiring departments to project spending every 30 days<\/p>\n

Targeted cuts to nonpublic safety departments selected by the City Council<\/p>\n

Day said departments such as Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Planning and Development, and various neighborhood departments could be subject to potential reductions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch as Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Planning and Development, the various neighborhoods departments,\u201d Day said. \u201cYou just go through the listing of city departments and they would be subject to those cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TRUE Commission has focused on possible reductions in public spending. The recommendations do not address potential increases in revenue.<\/p>\n

The proposals are recommendations and possible strategies, not cuts that have been approved. If Amendment 3 passes, the recommendations would be sent to the Jacksonville City Council for review.<\/p>\n

The TRUE Commission has one more meeting scheduled before the Nov. 3 election.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve Amendment 3, a proposal that would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[133243,116,118,117,8191],"class_list":["post-404052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-amendment-3","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-property-tax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404052","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=404052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}