JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – City Councilman Ron Salem wants to create a government efficiency initiative, also known as DOGE, in Duval County.
The public will have a chance to ask why and how it will work at a meeting Tuesday at noon at City Hall. It is open to the public.
Press play above to watch the meeting live
DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) has drawn lots of attention nationally and statewide with efforts championed by Elon Musk and Gov. Ron DeSantis to eliminate “unnecessary” spending to ensure government efficiency.
But Salem wants Jacksonville to have its own version: Duval DOGE that he says will have a key difference from federal DOGE.
“We’re not bringing anybody from the outside, like an Elon Musk or anybody,” Salem said. “This will be an internal process basically run by the council auditors and with the council, so there will be no dollars expended, extra dollars expended in order to try to save these dollars.”
Salem also said his recommendation for the effort is to leave out what many consider to be core government, including police, fire, and garbage collection.
News4JAX Political Analyst Rick Mullaney, with the Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute, said the amount of the city budget allocated for public safety is part of the issue when it comes to the challenges of spending, cuts and balancing a budget in local government.
Mullaney served under three administrations: Mayors Ed Austin, John Delaney and John Peyton.
“The bottom line when it comes to funding local government is it’s a real challenge,” Mullaney said. “The reason for that for Duval, as for any other county in the state, over 50% is typically public safety, and that’s the case here in Duval County. Of our nearly $2 billion budget, over a billion goes to public safety.”
Salem and council auditors explained last week that Duval DOGE would revisit a method used in 2007 and 2008. They said a percentage of department budgets would be initially removed and reviewed by council auditors.
A special committee could then decide whether to reinstate those funds, leave them unused, or allocate them elsewhere.
So would that mean people losing their government jobs?
“Well, depending on the extent of the deficits we have, there might be some belt-tightening that could include people,” Salem told News4JAX. “When you’ve got deficits like that, it’s hard not to make that kind of balance the budget, as we have to do in Jacksonville. We have a balanced budget, sometimes without involving people. They may be vacant positions that aren’t filled or various ways that you can cut positions without necessarily cutting people.”
But Mullaney said the city may have to make some tough decisions about how to handle the looming deficits expected during the next few years.
“You can tighten your belt, you can be efficient, you can have some savings, but often it means having to have some cuts. That is very difficult,” Mullaney said.
Mayor Donna Deagan said her administration, through the 904 Lean Initiative program, has been focused on improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of city government operations since she became mayor.
She said she hopes her team and the City Council can collaborate on efforts to make the city’s government more efficient.
Last week, dozens gathered outside City Hall to say “No DOGE in Duval.”
They argue that a DOGE program in Jacksonville would disrupt vital city services and that the city has adequate legal and political mechanisms to combat waste, fraud and corruption.
