TALHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected a project that costs roughly $567 million from Monday’s state budget, including millions of dollars from initiatives sponsored by Republican lawmakers who challenged his administration.
In the last time before the state spending plans came into effect, Desantis made statewide cuts. It investigated $14 million in the Hillsboro County Sheriff’s Aircraft Hangar, $1.2 million to investigate the Miami-Dade Homeowners Association fraud, and more than $4.5 million in various county affordable housing initiatives.
He cut another $5.7 million in public radio and television station funding and reduced $3.1 million in public advocate pay raises.
In addition to local projects, he bought $200 million to buy land for Florida’s wildlife corridors and another $1 million that was made to study property tax relief.
“What you can see within the budget is an example of a very financially responsible situation,” DeSantis said at a Monday news conference in the village. “We meet Florida’s needs and we want most people to focus on us.”
The budget maintains $28 million for state employees, teachers, police pay raises and farmers’ food sharing programs. The state’s affordable housing trust funds remained untouched, at around $235 million.
It also includes $830 million to repay state debt earlier than DeSantis’ prioritized schedule.
“We’re not running away from it with anything,” DeSantis said of the spending.
House Republicans attacked
After the most controversial legislative meeting in Desantis’ history, state legislators dressed as the governor used more ink than usual in his veto pen.
The rage appears to have been trained by several lawmakers.
Republican Rep. Alex Andrade’s 14 projects in the Pensacola area have been cut after spending most of the legislative meeting to investigate one of DeSantis’ top priorities, Hope Florida.
Much of that investigation was given to the state-created charity, the Hope Florida Foundation, which accepted $10 million from a state settlement with Medicaid contractors, and quickly gave it to two external organisations, and then gave it at least $8.5 million to the political committee controlled by DeSantis’ then staffer, James Ussiea.
Andrade accused Uthmeier of committing a federal crime, and there is an open investigation at the Leon County State Attorney’s Office.
“From what I can say, yes, Governor DeSantis is clearly trying to punish me for investigating theft of a Medicaid fund by the then head of staff,” Andrade said in a text message.
Floridians need reading
Subscribe to our free Florida with our Focus Newsletter (coming soon)
Get the biggest story happening across the state every Wednesday.
You’re all signed up!
Want more free weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.
Check out all options
“When I began to investigate what happened, I knew that heavy Vetus would be his reaction. DeSantis can’t help himself.”
Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami Republican who is outspoken to some of DeSantis’ executive agency heads, saw that more than half of the proposed projects were denied, including $100,000 for the local bowler safety program and $445,000 for the food access program.
Other representatives who noticed spatting with the governor saw their projects being cut. Miami GOP Rep. Juan Carlos Polas is an outspoken Trump supporter who often criticizes Desantis, with more than half of the project being cut.
Rep. Michelle Salzman of R-Pensacola, who ran the bill that blocked Desantis from the university’s presidential search process, saw about half of the proposed projects have been cut.
In comparison, Desantis’ allies seemed less feverish. Sen. Jay Collins, a Tampa Republican who has been attracting attention as a potential top runner who could become DeSantis’ lieutenant governor, has rejected four of his nearly 50 proposed projects.
Four of these included $3 million for a new generator for the Hillsboro wastewater system and $375,000 for the Tampa Museum.
Overall, the South Florida project appears to have been a hit on the veto list. Miami House Speaker Daniel Perez will not submit budgetary zone requests themselves, so other members will submit requests for South Florida funding projects. Perez and DeSantis clash repeatedly during this session, where Perez likened the governor to a seventh grader at one point, attacking House leadership by failing DeSantis.
A spokesman for Perez did not respond to requests for comment.
Senate President Ben Albritton declined to comment.
The final total for next year’s state budget, which begins Tuesday, is not clear.
That’s because the budget hasn’t been publicized, and DaSantis, who saw 26% of the state budget balloons on the clock, used creative accounting to calculate the total.
The final budget for Congress, passed earlier this month, was $115.1 billion, about $500 million less than what Desantis requested in February.
However, in his news release on Monday, Desantis used different metrics to calculate the totals, bundled them into the money his administration had not spent in the previous fiscal year.
Results: In February, Desantis said his proposed budget was $115.6 billion.
On Monday, he said the final budget was just $10 million from what he originally proposed: $117.9 billion.
There are no investigations regarding property taxes
Desantis also rejected $1 million to study the effectiveness of state economists in eliminating or significantly reducing property taxes.
He said Monday that he was “sufficient” by the work of an economist. Their office reporting to Congress is known for publishing nonpartisan reports and moving away from political conflict.
“We don’t need to give bureaucratic money to study this,” DeSantis said. “We know what we need to do, so let’s do that.”
The meaning of “it” is not clear, and a Desantis spokesman did not respond when asked to explain. Desantis has raised the idea of eliminating property taxes, but has not provided any specific suggestions.
Statewide changes to property tax rates must be approved through the voting initiative, perhaps by 60% of voters through the voting initiative next year.
Republican lawmakers said they wanted to propose something for the vote next year, and Perez called a special committee to come up with ideas.
But lawmakers on both parties are balancing on the idea of eliminating property taxes, warning that it could destroy local governments, particularly in rural counties. Police and firefighters, on average, are the biggest costs for city and county governments, and property taxes also provide large funding to public schools.
“You’re talking about the full government rebates for these counties,” R-Defuniak Springs Rep. Shane Abbott said at a committee meeting in May.
Former Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes said pretending to be a property tax is not “political misconduct.” He wrote that his think tank, a Florida policy project, will study it if economists fail to do so.
“We need research and planning, not “leave it to the governor and expect the best strategy,” Brandes writes. “Florida deserves better.”
DeSantis also rejected Congress’s plan to drive at least $750 million into the state’s rainy day fund, which was last accessed during the Great Recession in 2008.
In addition to the boundaries of this year’s budget, lawmakers proposed a constitutional amendment earlier this month to make its annual funding permanent and make access more difficult due to non-emergency spending.
“We’re in this problem because we spend all our money on our checking accounts,” House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Lawrence McClure said earlier this month.
DeSantis said he refused to move because he thought the correction would not pass.
