Meeting colors

OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Jacksonville TRUE Commission Meeting - October 20, 2026

City Council — Tuesday, October 20, 2026

BodyJacksonville, Florida

SessionCity Council

DateTuesday, October 20, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:00:50

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:03

This is the October 8th, 2026 meeting of the taxation revenue and utilization of expenditures true commission for the city of Jacksonville it's apparently determined we do not have a quorum.

0:23

So we will not be able to take action on the backlog of minutes.

0:31

The uh only other item is uh we I guess do we have any unexcused absences?

Unassigned speaker

0:45

I

Speaker 1

0:45

think she said last month she might be out.

0:48

Yes, and her

Speaker 2

0:49

replacement

Speaker 1

0:49

was

Speaker 2

0:51

her replacement was just confirmed in committee this week and will be approved by council next week.

0:55

So I'm not sure if maybe that's why

Speaker 1

0:58

that could be all right.

1:00

So uh and on that note, then we will introduce ourselves, starting with Mr.

1:05

Tyson.

Speaker 3

1:08

Bruce Tyson, Southwest CPAC,

Speaker 4

1:11

Blake Bass, Council

Speaker 1

1:13

President.

1:13

Raymond Day, Southeast CPAC.

Unassigned speaker

1:17

Dr.

Speaker 5

1:17

Keishan Chamber's Hargrove, um City Council President Representative.

Speaker 1

1:23

Thank you.

1:24

All right.

1:24

Um we have a presentation today from our council auditor, Mr.

1:29

Philip Peterson.

1:31

Mr.

1:31

Peterson, the floor is yours.

1:33

I don't think we have a lot on the agenda today, other than to hear from you.

1:38

So we are going to give you the extreme latitude about 30 minutes and 10 minutes for 15 minutes for questions.

1:46

How about

Unassigned speaker

1:47

that?

Speaker 1

1:48

Can you entertain us for that long?

Speaker 6

1:51

I can entertain you uh for a while.

1:54

Um I will be honest, I did not was not aware I was making a presentation, and I was thought I was here for to answer questions.

2:00

Oh so um happy to do that.

2:03

Um I'll I guess give you the high level of the budget and then we can go from there.

2:08

Perfect.

2:09

Um so council approved the budget.

2:12

Uh I guess we're at two weeks ago on uh October or September 22nd, uh 2.027 billion dollars.

2:20

Um it's a smidge higher.

2:23

I think they added about 200,000 above uh in additional revenue above what the mayor proposed.

2:29

Um there were a um number of actions that were taken throughout all the finance committee hearings and can go into various detail depending on how you want to um discuss those.

2:42

Um excuse me.

2:43

If you followed along the process, um the finance committee had set aside about 23.4 million dollars in a uh contingency in past years that would have been referred to as the special council contingency.

2:58

It's the pluses and minuses of all the cuts along the way or ads.

3:03

Um this year they deemed that the public safety contingency.

3:08

Um the mayor, so let me take you back a year at the end of 2025.

3:15

Um, when the city council was looking at cutting the millage rate, the public safety unions had um some hesitancy towards that because they knew that um a cut in the millage rate would more than likely impact future collective bargaining um room that they would have, uh, which they are now entering into discussions for their next collective bargaining agreement as we speak.

3:39

Um so as a measure to somewhat appease the unions, the council set aside 26 million dollars uh out of reserves for um those future negotiations, but the legislation that appropriated those dollars only carried them over through September 30th of 2026.

4:00

So when the mayor went to propose her budget, those dollars had not been utilized for anything, and at the time there were no uh proposed uses for those dollars.

4:10

So she proposed to use those that 26 million dollars to fund three public safety projects that were of one-time nature.

4:18

Uh they were a two million dollar JFRD CO2 removal system, which basically cleans their gear after they come out of fires.

4:27

It was supposed to help with future cancer rates.

Unassigned speaker

4:30

Um there was a 10 million dollar JSO warehouse consolidation project that JSO was requesting.

Unassigned speaker

4:36

JSO has multiple warehouses scattered around the downtown area, and they want to try to bring them all under one roof.

Unassigned speaker

5:00

That was additional tenant leasehold improvements that were made to the Florida Blue Building at JSO's request fit in line with their lease, but uh if we were to pay those down, that would have saved the city about a million and a half dollars over the life per year over the life of the lease.

Speaker 6

5:15

So it was a pretty smart financial move.

5:18

Excuse me, I'm trying to go into a cough.

5:20

Um so the mayor included using the 26 million that had been set aside for the unions to fund those 26 million dollars worth of projects in her proposed budget.

5:31

Um the you once the unions became aware of that, they kind of raised some red flags because they thought that that 26 million was going to carry over indefinitely for them, even though that's not what the legislation said.

5:43

And so council was trying to get to meet both sides, funding the 26 million again that the unions were requesting, and then also funding the 26 million dollars worth of projects.

5:55

So through all of their cuts and ads, uh that number ended up being 23.4 million, so they set that aside to fund uh the 26 million dollars of projects and then decided to leave the 26 million for the collective bargaining uh discussions intact.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Public Transportation██████████████████████████████████34%

Budget███████████████████████████████31%

Public Service Grants█████████████13%

Public Comment█████████9%

Economic Development█████5%

Procedural████4%

Public Finance██2%

Community Engagement██2%

Summary of Proceedings

Jacksonville Taxation Revenue and Utilization of Expenditures (TRUE) Commission Meeting - October 20, 2026

The meeting of the TRUE Commission convened but lacked a quorum, preventing formal action on the backlog of minutes. The primary activity was a high-level budget presentation from Council Auditor Philip Peterson, followed by discussions on independent authority accountability and a proposed tier system for evaluating city expenses. Public comments addressed data centers and Amendment 3.

Consent Calendar

None. No quorum was present, so the minutes could not be approved.

Public Comments & Testimony

John J. Nooney: Commented on a recent noticed meeting about data centers and tied it to Amendment 3 and the proposed tier system. He raised questions about small data center sizes and encouraged a coordinated approach.
A representative of the Urban Core CPAC: Thanked the commission for its work, welcomed Commissioner Bass's tier system presentation, and suggested presenting it to the City Council. He also noted that Terry Canty is the likely new commissioner for the Urban Core CPAC, pending rules committee approval. He expressed appreciation for outgoing Commissioner Roundsville's service.

Discussion Items

FY2027 Budget Overview: Council Auditor Philip Peterson presented key features of the $2.027 billion budget approved on September 22. He detailed the $26 million originally set aside for public safety union negotiations (which expired September 30), the Mayor's proposal to redirect that $26 million to one-time public safety projects (JFRD CO2 removal system, JSO warehouse consolidation, Florida Blue Building leasehold improvements), and subsequent council actions that created an $18.3 million public safety contingency. The 5% and 7.5% raises for JSO/JFRD rank-and-file and corrections officers were funded, along with 3% for other unions and non-union employees. The $4.9 million for affordable housing was preserved. Over 99% of the Mayor's proposed budget was ultimately approved.
Independent Authority Accountability: Commissioner Raymond Day led a discussion on whether the city's independent authorities (JTA, JAA, JEA, JPA) operate effectively and transparently. Auditor Peterson explained the city's limited oversight tools (quarterly reports based on authority-provided data, no system access) and noted that JTA's new CFO had recently acknowledged that prior financial projections to council were unrealistic. A select committee on JTA oversight was formed and will meet the following day. Auditor Peterson also clarified that JAA is largely self-funded and its revenues must be reinvested at the airport per FAA rules; JTA relies heavily on city sales and gas tax revenues; and JPA receives a formula-based contribution from the city. Commissioner Blake Bass expressed concern about accountability and urged more direct monitoring.
Tier System Proposal for Commission Work: Commissioner Blake Bass proposed a structured approach to prioritize and address financial issues: Tier 1 ($100k–$1M, actionable with direct meetings), Tier 2 ($1M–$10M, influential via advisement), and Tier 3 ($10M+, monitored and advised). He suggested the commission focus on one department and one area of financial concern at a time, and deliver a semi-annual report to the City Council covering findings, savings achieved, and the next focus area. Commissioners expressed strong support for this framework as a way to improve effectiveness and visibility.

Key Outcomes

No votes were taken due to insufficient quorum.
Discussion of Amendment 3 was deferred to November.
The commission unanimously expressed support for Commissioner Bass's tier system and indicated it would be formally considered at a future meeting.
Outgoing Commissioner Roundsville was thanked for her service. Her replacement, Leroy Kelly, had been approved by the Rules Committee and was expected to be confirmed by the City Council the following day.
The commission agreed to rearrange its agenda to incorporate the tier system moving forward.

Meeting Transcript

This is the October 8th, 2026 meeting of the taxation revenue and utilization of expenditures true commission for the city of Jacksonville it's apparently determined we do not have a quorum. So we will not be able to take action on the backlog of minutes. The uh only other item is uh we I guess do we have any unexcused absences? I think she said last month she might be out. Yes, and her replacement was her replacement was just confirmed in committee this week and will be approved by council next week. So I'm not sure if maybe that's why that could be all right. So uh and on that note, then we will introduce ourselves, starting with Mr. Tyson. Bruce Tyson, Southwest CPAC, Blake Bass, Council President. Raymond Day, Southeast CPAC. Dr. Keishan Chamber's Hargrove, um City Council President Representative. Thank you. All right. Um we have a presentation today from our council auditor, Mr. Philip Peterson. Mr. Peterson, the floor is yours. I don't think we have a lot on the agenda today, other than to hear from you. So we are going to give you the extreme latitude about 30 minutes and 10 minutes for 15 minutes for questions. How about that? Can you entertain us for that long? I can entertain you uh for a while. Um I will be honest, I did not was not aware I was making a presentation, and I was thought I was here for to answer questions. Oh so um happy to do that. Um I'll I guess give you the high level of the budget and then we can go from there. Perfect. Um so council approved the budget. Uh I guess we're at two weeks ago on uh October or September 22nd, uh 2.027 billion dollars. Um it's a smidge higher. I think they added about 200,000 above uh in additional revenue above what the mayor proposed. Um there were a um number of actions that were taken throughout all the finance committee hearings and can go into various detail depending on how you want to um discuss those. Um excuse me. If you followed along the process, um the finance committee had set aside about 23.4 million dollars in a uh contingency in past years that would have been referred to as the special council contingency. It's the pluses and minuses of all the cuts along the way or ads. Um this year they deemed that the public safety contingency. Um the mayor, so let me take you back a year at the end of 2025. Um, when the city council was looking at cutting the millage rate, the public safety unions had um some hesitancy towards that because they knew that um a cut in the millage rate would more than likely impact future collective bargaining um room that they would have, uh, which they are now entering into discussions for their next collective bargaining agreement as we speak. Um so as a measure to somewhat appease the unions, the council set aside 26 million dollars uh out of reserves for um those future negotiations, but the legislation that appropriated those dollars only carried them over through September 30th of 2026. So when the mayor went to propose her budget, those dollars had not been utilized for anything, and at the time there were no uh proposed uses for those dollars. So she proposed to use those that 26 million dollars to fund three public safety projects that were of one-time nature. Uh they were a two million dollar JFRD CO2 removal system, which basically cleans their gear after they come out of fires.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com