Jacksonville City Hall has a farewell-gift tradition, but this year’s sendoff came with a very non-symbolic price tag. Former Council President Kevin Carrico used his council president budget to buy 50 personalized decanter sets, turning a customary gesture into a $6,285 taxpayer-funded optics problem. The gifts were etched with Carrico’s name and included two rocks glasses apiece.
According to Action News Jax, each set cost $125, with shipping and other expenses pushing the total to $6,285. Carrico’s purchase went to fellow council members, select staff and city employees as he left the council presidency.
The Price Tag Outpaced Recent Council Traditions
The spending is notable because it nearly matched the combined cost of gifts provided by the previous four council presidents. Those purchases totaled about $7,400, including $4,380 in charging pads and desk clocks from Sam Newby in 2022, $1,315 in sports-themed items from Terrance Freeman in 2023 and $1,696 in Stanley tumblers from Ron Salem in 2024.
Last year, former Council President Randy White gave no gifts, according to the comparison reported by Action News Jax. The contrast has made Carrico’s order look less like a routine token of appreciation and more like a spending decision that was waiting for someone to ask basic questions about it.
Councilman Matt Carlucci told the station that Carrico “used poor judgment” and agreed with residents upset that public money paid for personal gifts. Six council members returned their sets, while 12 kept them and paid $25 each to cover the amount above the $100 threshold.
What Florida’s Gift Rules Require
Florida’s gift law does not make a $125 item disappear simply because it was purchased through a government budget. The Florida Legislature says a municipality may provide a gift worth more than $100 when a public purpose can be shown, while qualifying officials must disclose gifts above that amount.
The statute also allows compensation within 90 days to reduce a gift’s reportable value to $100 or less. In practical terms, the reported options for recipients were to return the decanter, pay the $25 difference or keep it and comply with disclosure rules; the council members chose different routes.
Awkward Timing For A City Facing Lean Budget Talks
The controversy arrives as Jacksonville prepares to debate a proposed 2026-27 budget with a general fund of roughly $2.03 billion. The City of Jacksonville describes the proposal as lean and balanced, with no draw from reserves for a second consecutive year, while budget hearings are scheduled to begin in August.
That backdrop explains why a few thousand dollars in commemorative gifts can attract outsized attention. The amount is small next to Jacksonville’s full budget, but public spending is often judged by the message attached to it—and personalized glassware bearing a departing politician’s name sends a very different message than, say, office supplies or a public-facing ceremony.
Carrico has defended the practice as a longstanding bipartisan tradition and dismissed the backlash as a politically manufactured controversy. The council’s split response, however, suggests that tradition alone was not enough to settle the question once residents saw the total bill.
The gifts also add another chapter to a year of questions about Carrico’s judgment and council ethics. Hoodline previously detailed the JEA board fight involving Carrico’s effort to nominate his employer to the city-owned utility’s board, an episode that likewise raised concerns about conflicts and political optics.
For now, the decanters have been distributed, returned or partially reimbursed. The more durable question for Jacksonville taxpayers is whether the council will keep treating costly farewell gifts as tradition—or decide that the tradition has poured itself a little too generously.
