How will passage of Amendment 3 affect Jacksonville council vote on $50M tax incentives for Downtown Publix?

One day after Florida voters approved Amendment 3 — a measure projected to cost Jacksonville $200 million in revenue in its first year — the city’s Finance Committee is set to vote Wednesday on whether to approve a nearly $50 million tax incentive package to bring a Publix grocery store to Downtown Jacksonville.The vote on Ordinance 2026-0541 is scheduled for 1 p.m. at City Hall and represents the first major fiscal decision Jacksonville’s city council will face in the wake of Tuesday’s election results. Amendment 3, which expands Florida’s homestead property tax exemption, passed with 62% of the vote statewide.“If we do this incentive deal right now, without knowing what our shortfall is going to be — to me, it’s just irresponsible,” Jacksonville City Council President Nick Howland said last month, when the Finance Committee first deferred the vote pending the Amendment 3 outcome.That outcome is now known. Wednesday’s vote will reveal whether Howland and other council members who call