JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville City Council will have its final vote on the 2025-2026 budget Tuesday. This comes two weeks after four city council members walked out of a nearly eight-hour long meeting. The budget bill tentatively passed then, but it could be in jeopardy of failing.

The council’s 19 members will be deciding whether to cut the city’s millage rate by one-eighth of a mill. Mayor Donna Deegan has been against the cut from the beginning. Jacksonville’s police and fire unions, and the city’s civic council are also against it, but Finance Committee Chair Raul Arias believes they will be able to push it through.

“I feel confident that we will be able to pass a millage rate to reduce the millage rate for our citizens in Jacksonville,” Arias explained.

Councilman Jimmy Peluso has also been against the cut from the beginning. He said he will continue to fight against the millage rate reduction Tuesday.

“I feel slightly nervous at the end of the day in terms of what the outcome is gonna be. I think enough of us have said we’re gonna stand up with our first responders, with police, with fire, we’re gonna stand up for the future generations of Jacksonville,” Peluso said.

Another point of contention is Councilman Rory Diamond’s controversial amendments, which he has dubbed as the ‘Big Beautiful Budget Amendments.’ They would ban spending on undocumented immigrants, abortions, and DEI, or diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The amendments sparked heated debate during council’s September 9th meeting with Council members Peluso, Ju’Coby Pittman, Rahman Johnson, and Reggie Gaffney, Jr. walking out. Peluso told First Coast News he is not expecting something similar to happen tomorrow.

“We walked out at the moment to show our dissatisfaction with the fact that we’ve been completely removed from the process. I don’t think that’s going to happen tomorrow, I don’t expect to see any theatrics, I hope not. I don’t like doing that stuff, it’s not what I was elected to do,” Peluso explained.

City council members tentatively passed the budget without those four, but the budget will be at risk of failing to pass Tuesday if Diamond’s amendments are reintroduced.

“That’s been the concern, getting enough votes and you need 10 votes to pass a budget. A lot of council members throughout this process have already expressed if those amendments are in the budget, they will not support the budget whatsoever. So we’ll probably be put at a gridlock position where we may have to address each amendment one by one,” Arias said.

City Council needs 10 votes to pass the budget. Councilman Mike Gay and Councilman Terrance Freeman are abstaining from the vote due to conflicts of interest. Of the 17 council members left, nine people have expressed support for a budget that includes Diamond’s amendments and eight are against them.

If city council is not able to come to an agreement, they run the risk of having the state taking over the budget.

“We’re not gonna let that happen. We are running the city ourselves here, we know what we’re doing. So we just need to come together at some point, whether it’s at midnight or at 10 p.m., but we need to come together as a city council with 19 elected officials, we need to come together to pass this budget,” Arias said.

Peluso also wants to see more unity among his colleagues, which he believes can happen if the millage rate reduction is dropped along with Diamond’s amendments.

“If we want a budget that shows that we have consensus in our city, the budget shouldn’t pass by one vote. It shouldn’t be a 10 or 11 vote budget. It should be a 15, 16, 17 person budget. Remember there’s 19 of us. If you’re only passing a budget with the bare minimum, that’s not a consensus budget. That’s not what the people elected us to do,” Peluso explained.

The city council meeting has been moved to 3 p.m. Tuesday to allow more time for discussion. Council President Kevin Carrico has also called for a budget procedure meeting at 12 p.m.