DeSantis Signs $115 billion Budget, Vetoes $567 million; Palm Coast’s Modest Appropriations Survive

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a long-awaited state budget Monday just hours before it would take effect, vetoing $567 million.

The Legislature approved a $115.1 billion budget after a 105-day extended session, which is half-a-billion less than what the governor recommended before the session. However, during the budget signing ceremony and in ensuing press releases, the governor padded the size of the Legislature’s budget to include spending that does not all count toward the new fiscal year.

DeSantis insisted that after his $567 million in budget vetoes, the total budget was $10 million more than his recommendation.

The 2025-2026 budget comes in less than the 2024-2025 budget, which was $117.46 billion.

[Palm Coast’s pair of appropriations, $2.5 million for an “equalization tank” like the one pictured above and $2.5 million to help modernize Waste Water Treatment Plant 1 in the Woodlands, the city’s biggest and oldest, survived vetoes. A $125,000 appropriation for a planned YMCA in Town Center also survived.]

“How many places are spending less year over year? Not a lot,” DeSantis said Monday morning when signing the budget in Wildwood.

DeSantis also canceled $750 million meant to bolster a reserve fund. Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez touted the plan to add the money in case of a recession. The fund will reach nearly $5 billion in the new budget.

DeSantis explained that he didn’t think voters would like the idea of increasing the reserves; they can raise it themselves in November 2026 via a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the legal ceiling on the fund.

Albritton’s spokesperson declined to comment, and Perez’s office didn’t immediately respond to the Florida Phoenix’s request for comment on the veto of the large-ticket item the Legislature had emphasized.

“None of us know what the future holds,” Perez told reporters during budget negotiations in early June. “I think this is just a preparation of being prepared for the unexpected, and none of us know what the unexpected is, but we have a sample to look at in the 2000s when we had a recession.

Bye, bye business rent tax

Florida is the only state to assess a business rent tax. No longer is that the case, starting Tuesday.

“The Legislature has also done something that I’ve been asking for many years, and that’s eliminating a tax that only Florida has of all 50 states, and that’s taxing business rents. It’s not good for our economy. It’s not good for business growth. And so that tax is being sunsetted.” DeSantis said.

In all, the plan is estimated to provide $1.3 billion in tax relief.

Lawmakers passed a budget that eliminated 1,745 positions, or 1.5% of the authorized workforce.

Among the budget vetoes is $14 million for Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office hangar, $4.4 million for public television stations, $1.3 million for public radio stations, $1.5 million for Broward County eviction prevention and rental assistance program, and $2.8 million for a Florida International University transportation efficiency program.

DeSantis vetoed the nearly $360,000 lawmakers set aside to conduct a pilot program on a bell-to-bell ban on cellphone use in six Florida school districts.

The College of the Florida Keys Marine and Maritime Professional Institute was vetoed, a total of $1.99 million.

OnBikes Pensacola was allocated $62,500 in the budget, but DeSantis vetoed that line item. One of OnBikes’ vice presidents is Rep. Alex Andrade, chair of the committee that probed Hope Florida, First Lady Casey DeSantis’ charity.

Lawmakers had agreed to provide $750,000 for the construction of the Florida Museum of Black History in St. Augustine, but DeSantis vetoed its funding.

Property taxes

DeSantis vetoed $1 million to study the consequences of eliminating property taxes.

“We don’t need to give a bureaucracy money to study this. We know what needs to be done, so let’s just do it, and we will do it,” DeSantis said.

“Property tax is going to require us to go to the ballot and get it done,” DeSantis said. “I know I spoke with President Albritton yesterday about it. He’s committed to do it. There’s no excuses. In the House of Representatives, we have almost a three-to-one Republican majority. Is there any possible excuse for why you can’t get it done?”

Vacancies

With former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez’s departure earlier this year, the lieutenant governor position remains vacant, as does the chief financial officer after now-U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis resigned to run for his new position.

The governor said he has not made decisions on those positions but would in “relatively short order,” but not before the July 4 holiday weekend.

–Jay Waagmeester, Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix