The City of Jacksonville City Council approved a $42 Million budget last week, surpassing last year’s $38,569,660.00 budget, with a nearly 10% increase.
The budget plans began in August, when the city held its first budget workshop.
City Manager James Hubbard stated, “The most fiscally conservative and affluent communities saw the need to raise their tax rates this year to support their people and the infrastructure their citizens depend on.”
Hubbard continued, “We’ve done a great job. Your council has done a great job. Your staff has done a great job in the past couple of years either decreasing or maintaining a flat tax rate. In light of some of the cuts we’ve had to make to the tax base, maintaining a flat tax rate has been quite the struggle.”
The adopted property tax rate for 2026-27 will be $0.69 per $100.00 valuation, with $0.154387 of that amount submitted towards interest and debt.
These numbers reflect an 11.2% increase in the tax rate.
Jacksonville citizen, Diane Culver, spoke to the council citing an incident involving her husband’s recent EMS transport.
Receiving a bill weeks after the fated EMS ride to the hospital, the Culvers received a bill from the City of Jacksonville in the amount of $300.00. She stated, “Some would call this double dipping. Charging for an ambulance ride, after we already pay for that service with our taxes.”
She continued, “Just because you can charge for that service, doesn’t mean you should.”
The Jacksonville City Council meets at Jacksonville City Hall on the second Tuesday of each month.