Florida lawmakers have started filing what are expected to be hundreds of proposals seeking money for local projects and programs — but legislative leaders are cautioning not to expect as much spending as in the past few years.
As of Tuesday morning, House members had filed 40 funding proposals, while one had been filed in the Senate, according to legislative websites. Lawmakers will consider the proposals as they negotiate a budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year during the legislative session that will start March 4.
Since taking their positions in November, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, have advised lawmakers about a need to slow spending. At least in part, that is because federal money that flooded into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic has dried up.
“It is far easier to spend money than to save it,” Perez said during an organization session in November.
Lawmakers each year try to get state money for local projects and programs — what are known in the Legislature as “member projects.” Spending on such projects and programs grew from $174 million in 2019 to $1.3 billion in 2024.
Last year, senators filed 2,695 requests for local funding that would have cost $7.3 billion. House members put forward 3,167 proposals that would have required $8.8 billion.
Sen. Tom Leek, an Ormond Beach Republican and former House budget chairman, warned people who attended a Putnam County legislative delegation meeting this month that member project funding could drop to about $500 million in the upcoming budget.
“During the COVID years, the federal government was just dumping money on the states,” Leek said during the meeting, echoing remarks he made at the Flagler County legislative delegation meeting in early January. (See: “Flagler’s New Legislative Delegation, Meager in Money and Seniority, Tells Locals: Don’t Expect Much.”)
“Our choice was to either give that money back to the federal government, and have it go into a black hole, or to use that money for citizens of Putnam (County) and Floridians,” added Leek, who was elected to the Senate in November after serving in the House. “So, we chose to keep that money. … I think we’re going to see a return to pre-COVID numbers. So, you should expect the total legislative projects to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million, maybe (it) gets to $750 million, but substantially less than it’s been in the past.”
Leek said local officials have a new funding avenue for some water-related projects, as a 2024 law designates money from a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to buying and maintaining land in a state wildlife corridor, removing invasive species and helping properties convert from using septic tanks to sewer systems.
DeSantis vetoed about $950 million in spending from the fiscal 2024-2025 budget, which took effect July 1. That included more than $200 million in water projects.
“Just because a water project was vetoed last year doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. It’s just a different path you’re going to go forward,” Leek told the Putnam County officials. “It (the Seminole Tribe gambling money) relieves some pressure off of us. It provides a dedicated funding source. But it also relieves a little pressure off of you guys, because now you don’t have to come to the Legislature and fight for that money. You just go through the grant process.”
Lawmakers also have been advised that getting local matches could help with their requests for money from the Legislature.
As an example, Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, has filed a $995,000 request for money for the non-profit Jewish Adoption and Family Care Options Children’s Ability Center, which provides services to families raising children with developmental disabilities. The request said the center is in line for $3.395 million from local governments and $1.345 million from “other” sources. A similar proposal landed $475,000 in the budget for the current fiscal year.
Among other proposals already pitched for the 2025 session:
— Rep. Randy Maggard, R-Dade City, is seeking $19.72 million to help the St. Johns River Water Management District acquire property in Volusia County and $30.8 million for the Southwest Florida Water Management District to acquire a property in Pasco County.
— Rep. Susan Plasencia, R-Orlando, is seeking $3 million for automotive-technician workforce apprenticeships involving electric vehicle repairs.
— Rep. Patt Maney, R-Shalimar, is seeking $1.5 million for Fort Walton Beach traffic improvements.
— Rep. John Snyder, R-Stuart, is seeking $250,000 for Juno Beach-based Loggerhead Marinelife Center for a water-treatment system to help sick and injured sea turtles.
–Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
