JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayor Donna Deegan and Jacksonville drivers pushed back against talk of tolls after the interim head of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority described the agency’s tolling authority during a City Council committee meeting Friday. JTA says tolls are not being proposed as a solution to its budget problems. At the Financial Oversight and Audit Select Committee meeting, interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson discussed a hypothetical partnership involving a JTA asset such as the Skyway as a way to generate revenue. He said the authority’s power to toll roads had not been used “in a long, long time” and spoke about past opportunities to retain roads and charge tolls, including a possible high-occupancy-vehicle lane. JTA later said Ferguson was speaking about the authority’s history as an expressway authority, not advocating for the return of bridge tolls. The agency said it has statutory authority to collect tolls but no active proposal or recommendation to reinstate them. The discussion came as the authority confronts a budget gap of nearly $40 million and weeks after it laid off nearly 200 employees. Friday’s meeting was the first of five scheduled sessions for the council committee. Deegan said she would oppose any effort to restore tolls, arguing that residents had already rejected them. “There are many other solutions that should be considered to alleviate the current financial crisis,” she said. “Tolls is not one of them.” Some drivers also objected. Regina Wright said household costs were already too high and that Jacksonville needed “no more taxes and no more tolls.” Margarita Diaz-Hernandez said tolls can be difficult to afford. Tolls once helped fund construction of Jacksonville bridges, including the Matthews, Fuller Warren, Hart and Dames Point bridges, beginning in the 1950s. Toll collection continued after the Jacksonville Expressway, now known as JTB, was built. Ending tolls became a campaign issue in 1987, and voters later replaced them with a half-cent sales tax. While Ferguson’s comments raised the prospect of tolling during a period of financial strain at JTA, the agency’s statement and the mayor’s response make clear that no toll-reinstatement plan is currently on the table.