The state of Florida’s budget for this year is $116.5. Governor Ron DeSantis just signed it, which includes vetoes of around $950 million of wasteful spending.
“Some of the stuff I don’t think was appropriate for state tax dollars, some of the stuff you’ll see are things that I support, said the Governor.”
Last month, Florida TaxWatch identified over $854.6 million in spending items that didn’t need to be included in the budget. Many of the projects listed by the group were cut by Governor DeSantis.
The governor did follow through on his top spending priorities, including $740 million for Everglades restoration, an 8% increase in Medicaid funding for nursing homes, a $1.8 billion increase in the Florida Education Finance Program, and $1.25 billion for an increase in teacher salaries. However, the Florida Education Association, a union that donates almost exclusively to Democrats, criticized this as not being enough money.
Liberal group DeSantis Watch called the vetoes “cruel” and said his priorities were “misplaced.” Others weren’t happy because the Governor vetoed millions in arts and cultural spending, but these were projects that could have been funded by the local city and county governments.
Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro praised the governor for his vetoes. TaxWatch pointed out in their annual “Turkey list” of wasteful spending that Republicans aren’t following through with spending cuts but instead are increasing government spending every year on projects not needed.
“The state budget has contained over 1600 local member projects for three years straight, amounting to $2.8 billion. While Tallahassee lawmakers will defend this spending on local projects back in their districts, Calabro says these member projects are getting worse. “They need to be limited and reformed,” he said.”
