JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two Jacksonville City Council committees endorsed changes to the plan for granting $40 million of public funding in the city’s community benefits agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Eastside neighborhood for affordable housing, workforce housing, economic development and homelessness services, according to News4JAX partners at the Jacksonville Daily Record.
After the city’s Office of the Inspector General warned council members that their original plan to create a nonprofit to disburse the funds could create opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse, the two committees voted to recommend a proposal for the city disburse the funding itself.
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City Council approved the CBA in 2024 in connection with the city’s agreement with the Jaguars to provide $775 million in public funding toward the $1.4 billion transformation of EverBank Stadium into the team’s “Stadium of the Future.”
As part of the CBA, the city committed to funding the Eastside with $40 million over seven years, with no fewer than $4 million granted in any year. The Jaguars committed to contribute $2.5 million each year for the next 30 years.
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Ordinance 2026-0036, which was introduced by the Council Special Committee on the Community Benefits Agreement 2.0, called for the establishment of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to disburse the city funding.
On Monday, a substitute for that ordinance, introduced by Council member Ron Salem, cleared both the Rules Committee and the Neighborhoods, Community Services, Health and Public Safety Committee on 6-0 votes. Three members who were on the special committee for the CBA voted for Salem’s substitute.
The bill, as substituted by Salem, is scheduled to appear before the Finance Committee before a full Council vote on Feb. 10.