JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville City Council’s Duval DOGE Committee has wrapped up its work, at least for the time being.
The committee claims to have identified more than $25 million in savings since it first started back in March, but there is a dispute over whether that $25 million is actually “savings.”
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In the special committee’s final hearing, members received an overview of their work, which included looking at various potential savings in areas like the use of city credit cards, overtime, and the efficiency of city buildings.
But the main highlight touted by Chair and City Councilman Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) is the immediate savings the committee claims to have uncovered.
The money primarily comes from capital projects that had either been completed but still had outstanding balances or had never spent any money to begin with.
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“We’re gonna take that $25 million and move it into a DOGE account that Council can then use to fund various projects,” Salem said.
But Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s office argued it’s not actually savings at all and noted most of the money wasn’t sitting as cash in accounts, but rather, it was unused debt capacity.
Additionally, the mayor’s office claims to have already been working to close out dozens of completed projects.
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“Once again, the DOGE committee is playing catch-up, engaging in a performative and duplicative action,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
But Salem argued that freeing up that debt capacity has already allowed the city to fund other projects without taking on additional debt.
“Well we just had one today in finance where Councilmember Diamond was using some money that would traditionally fall to the reserve account to fund this lifeguard station in Jax Beach, and I said, ‘No, let’s let that money fall to the reserves and we’ll use DOGE money for that lifeguard station,’” Salem said. “That was a million dollars.”
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Salem also noted the committee did not recommend any cuts to children’s services or facilities like libraries in its final report.
He said the committee could reconvene sometime later this year after next year’s budget is finalized.
Some of the committee’s findings are expected to play a role in those budget discussions as well.
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