JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond fired back at the four councilmembers who abruptly walked out of Tuesday’s meeting during budget amendment discussions.
Councilmembers Rahman Johnson, Jimmy Peluso, Ju’Coby Pittman, and Reggie Gaffney Jr. walked out after a split vote on the city’s millage rate, during a contentious debate over the “Big Beautiful Budget Amendments” proposed by Diamond.
Pittman said she had issues with the budget that restricts money for undocumented immigrants, abortion-related services and funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which were already eliminated in Florida.
She said the amendments inject culture war issues into local government, but Diamond said his legislation is what Jacksonville people want.
“Go walk around the city of Jacksonville and ask people do they want this in their budget, they don’t want it,” Diamond said. “That’s acting like babies. This is a democracy — you have to accept when you lose a vote. Walking out is ridiculous.”
RELATED: Jacksonville City Council split on millage rate proposal
UNF Political Science Professor Michael Binder said councilmembers walking out is a common tactic for parties to draw attention to their issues.
“Oftentimes, local politics deals with development, and we’ve seen that year after year, the energy devoted to downtown and resources devoted to downtown,” Binder said. ”But now we’re talking about abortion and culture issues, which really don’t have as big of a place in local issues, which is really about the blocking and tackling and pothole filling of local government."
The next vote on the budget is on Sept. 23. If it isn’t passed by Oct. 1, Jacksonville could face a temporary government shutdown.