Jacksonville Beach raises bid threshold to $50,000, adopts updated procurement manual

Jacksonville Beach officials adopted an updated procurement manual and approved an ordinance that raises the city's bid threshold from $25,000 to $50,000.

Ashley Gossett, the city's chief financial officer, presented the resolution and ordinance, saying the update resulted from a strategic review intended to ensure federal, state and local compliance, mitigate risk in public spending and simplify purchasing. “The most significant change in the manual and ordinance is to increase the city's bid threshold from $25,000, which was set in 2008, to $50,000, which is in line with other local governments of a similar size and scope,” Gossett said.

Council moved to adopt resolution number "2202Dash2025" adopting an updated procurement manual; the motion passed on a roll-call vote with council members recorded as voting yes. The accompanying ordinance amending chapter 2 of the city code to increase the bid threshold was presented on second reading, had no public speakers and was adopted on second reading by roll call.

Gossett said the team surveyed peer cities and staff and judged the $50,000 threshold appropriate for Jacksonville Beach; she also said the ordinance removes outdated language about a 1978 uniform accounting system by moving definitions into the procurement manual.

Votes and next steps: The procurement-manual resolution and ordinance were adopted at the meeting; the ordinance takes effect as provided in the code. Council did not discuss specific contract awards tied to the threshold increase at the meeting.