JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville City Council voted 14-4 to override Mayor Donna Deegan’s first veto since taking office in 2023 on Tuesday evening.
The mayor announced Monday she’d vetoed a $4 million-a-year contract increase for Meridian Waste, which had been approved by the council in December.
The increase represents a 29% jump in service costs.
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Deegan argued the company should have only received a 5% boost, which was the number put forward by the Rate Review Committee.
“To spend an additional $12 million over the next three years for a contract that’s already been agreed to is not fiscally responsible,” said Deegan during a press availability Tuesday morning.
Additionally, Deegan argued using reserve dollars to pay for the increase was inconsistent with the council’s prior position.
The bulk of more than $40 million in reserve spending Deegan had included in her initial budget proposal, which was primarily aimed at affordable housing and homelessness initiatives, was cut out by council members.
“We didn’t believe that we should take $4 million out of the reserves that we were told should not be touched,” said Deegan.
She also contended council has no authority to dictate the contract increase, a position supported by a binding opinion issued by the city’s General Counsel.
“We do believe that this is an executive power. Apparently, the company was not pleased with the contract that they signed, so they went to council to try to get a better deal,” said Deegan.
But council members like Finance Chair Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) fired back Tuesday night with their vote to override the veto and put the funding increase back in place.
“We need to do police, fire, and garbage pickup well, or we’re not being effective council members,” said Salem during an interview Tuesday afternoon.
Salem argued that extra funding is necessary to ensure efficient trash collection.
“Meridian needs these additional dollars to be competitive with Waste Pro, who is at $24 and change on their rate, in order to keep their drivers and continue providing the quality services their providing,” said Salem.
He also pushed back on the mayor’s separation of powers argument.
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“The best example I can give you is the Jaguar deal. They brought us a contract. The council debated it and changed it, and then she signed it. I don’t understand the difference,” said Salem.
Before the vote, Deegan vowed to stand her ground and not release the funds to Meridian even if her veto was overturned.
“If it needs to go to a legal action then that’s what we’ll have to do,” said Deegan.
Deegan’s plan rests on the argument council doesn’t have the authority to authorize the increase.
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Given the mayor’s belief the contract boost isn’t in taxpayers’ best interest, Salem questioned how spending taxpayer dollars on a legal battle would be a better alternative.
“They’ll spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to defend a bad argument and I just think that’s unfortunate,” said Salem.
Action News Jax did reach out to Meridian for comment on the veto and whether it plans to sue if the mayor doesn’t follow through with the contract increase.
We haven’t heard back.
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