DeSantis Trims State Budget By $1 Billion, Including Some Of His Programs

From the Florida Phoenix: By Michael Moline

June 29, 2020

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that he’s used his line-item veto authority to carve out more than $1 billion from the $93.2 billion state budget the Legislature approved in March to account for state revenues lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fully half — $500 million — will come out of the governor’s own priorities, including a job growth grant program, the governor said during a news conference in the state Capitol.

Even so, the budget, which goes into effect with the new fiscal year on Wednesday, retains $600 million in increased teacher pay, additional money for public schools and universities, water programs and Everglades restoration, and public safety, DeSantis said.

The teacher pay increases will go toward higher starting salaries for Florida’s public school teachers as well as raises for experienced educators.

When he and the Legislature began work on the budget, “we could see an economic downturn, but I don’t think we necessarily forecast the economy simply stopping for a time,” he said.

“As the reality changes, I think we all have to recognize that none of us are going to get everything we want. And so, I thought it was important that I was stepping up to the plate on that as well.”

Under the new budget, which the governor said he’s signed before addressing reporters, state agencies will roll over $800 million as yet unspent during the current fiscal year. That, plus unspent trust fund and general revenue money, will leave the state with $6.3 million in reserves to absorb continued revenue lost to the pandemic.

Given the state’s population growth, the new budget represents a decline in spending per Floridian, DeSantis said.

The governor had warned on June 16 that his application of his line-item veto power would be bloody.

“It’ll be a lot of red. It’s kind of the veto equivalent of the red wedding from Game of Thrones,” DeSantis said.

According to a report last week by Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, which monitors budgetary trends, state tax collections were down by nearly $1.5 billion through the end of May.

The report blames “declines in the tourism and hospitality-related industries, but the impact was widespread as all categories other than building-related industries were affected.”

The budget, approved by the Legislature on March 19, before the seriousness of the COVID crisis was fully understood, contained what then was considered an unusually large reserve of $3.8 billion.

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.