Gov. Ron DeSantis stayed true to his prediction of vetoing half a billion dollars from the Florida budget that begins Tuesday, including $8.5 million earmarked for Alachua County projects.
DeSantis signed the budget Monday, with less than a day before the new fiscal year. The governor said the budget, finished after an “extensive” legislative session, mirrored the bottom line and priorities he outlined in his proposed budget released in February.
Line-item vetoes killed $576 million in projects. These were projects the Florida Legislature wanted to fund. Alachua County was slated to get more than $230 million, but the majority of that went to UF, Santa Fe College and state departments. Allocations for city, county and community projects totaled around $26 million.
For Alachua County, the following projects were vetoed:
- City of Newberry Electric System Resiliency Project: $350,000
- High Springs police station: $250,000
- City of Alachua Wastewater Treatment Facility Expansion: $225,000
- Dance Alive National Ballet Center for the Arts: $475,000
- Gainesville Southwest Public Safety Services Center: $1,170,500
- Girl Scouts of Gateway Council Camp Kateri Capital Project: $400,000
- City of High Springs North-West Alachua County Utility Improvements: $250,000
- Alachua County Jail – Capital Efficiency Analysis: $225,000
- Save Florida Waters, Inc. Northern Springs Restoration Project: $250,000
- Department of Agriculture’s Doyle Conner Building (Gainesville) Renovation and Construction: $4.9 million
With the budget, DeSantis approved sales tax holidays and made some items sales-tax-free permanently.
A back-to-school sales tax holiday will happen every August and applies to clothing under $100, school supplies under $50, learning aids under $30 and personal computers under $1,500.
Event tickets, state park admissions, life jackets, sunscreen, bike helmets and insect repellent will be permanently exempt from sales tax “so families can enjoy all the outdoor fun Florida has to offer.”
The permanent exemptions also include disaster preparedness items like batteries, portable generators, tarps, gas cans, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
A “Second Amendment” sales tax holiday will occur this year from Sept. 8 through Dec. 31 and include bows, firearms, ammunition, tents, sleeping bags, camping stoves, fishing rods and reels, tackle boxes and bait and tackle.
DeSantis also signed off on the removal of the business rent tax, estimated to annually collect $904 million. Florida is currently the only state that levies this tax.
A press release from the governor’s office highlighted that Florida has reduced spending for the second year in a row while growing emergency reserves and paying off $830 million in an accelerated debt initiative.