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First Coast Connect

Mayor Brown, City Council Claim Politics Playing Role In Budget Battle

Cyd Hoskinson / WJCT
/
WJCT

The City Council will take a final vote Tuesday night on next year’s city budget following months of back-and-forth between the group and Mayor Alvin Brown's office.

The proposed budget includes across the board cuts to many city services that were recommended by the Council's Finance Committee.

The Committee took a red pen to the "City of Opportunity" budget proposal sent to the City Council by Mayor Alvin Brown, removing many of the new borrowing plans his office had proposed.

According to a recent Florida Times-Union article, Brown said he believes this move was politically motivated and was meant to hurt his 2015 re-election campaign.

Finance Committee Chairman Richard Clark, however, said this claim was "patently false" and asserted that it was the mayor who was trying to use the budget for political reasons.

This is not the first time Brown and the City Council have clashed about the budget.

Florida Times-Union reporter David Bauerlein and former Jacksonville City Councilman Matt Carlucci joined Melissa Ross to discuss past and present budget battles between the mayor and City Council.

 You can follow Melissa Ross on Twitter @MelissainJax.

Melissa Ross joined WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. During her career as a television and radio news anchor and reporter, Melissa has won four regional Emmys for news and feature reporting.