A well-connected development group is lobbying the Jacksonville City Council to greenlight a package of taxpayer incentives Tuesday, including a $28 million cash grant, that it says is necessary to build a 15-floor apartment building with a Publix in downtown, a revitalization project Mayor Donna Deegan believes is critical despite looming budgets that will require deep cuts to city services.
If approved, the city would owe nearly $100 million in cash incentives to a raft of economic development projects by 2032, according to data from the City Council Auditor, a total that has given some council members pause while they must simultaneously weigh tens of millions in cuts to city spending over the next several years.
After a 3-3 deadlock vote in the council’s finance committee, the full council will debate on Tuesday the nearly $50 million incentive package for a 250-unit apartment building and proposed Publix development near “Pearl Square” — a mixed-use development west of City Hall. More than $21 million of those incentives would take the form of a tax break, while the rest, about $28.25 million, would be cash paid out to the development group upon completion of the project…