Ron DeSantis Defunds Police, Infrastructure, Schools Spending In Florida Budget

By Nikki Slusher

Florida’s annual state budget is done, and Governor and 2024 Republican presidential nominee hopeful Ron DeSantis has made his final decisions. DeSantis made cuts to take it from $117 billion to $116 billion. This included desperately needed infrastructure projects like flood mitigation, homeless shelters, coastal and environmental conservation efforts, and public education (just to name a few).

Multiple projects and programs for fire departments and emergency operations were gutted too. The governor didn’t hold back on law enforcement agencies either. Some of the public safety initiatives DeSantis defunded a violent crimes unit, emergency radio equipment and technology, and a computer aided dispatch system. Guess it’s not the Democrats who are defunding the police.

Brandon Hogan, a political reporter for WKMG ClickOrlando, provided a breakdown of the veto list with some of the more notable cuts in Central Florida. Here are some of the things DeSantis refused to use tax dollars for but can pay for migrants to privately fly to another city in the country.

● Polk State College – Northeast Ridge Phase I — $16.2 million
● Florida Polytechnic University – Student Achievement Center — $11,208,748
● Polk County Public Schools – Heartland Biztown & Finance Park — $750,000
● Rolling Readers Space Coast Post Pandemic Reading Initiative — $150,000
● Carpentry – Viera High School — $100,000
● Community Scholars – Central Florida — $140,000
● The JA HOPE Project for Brevard County — $150,000
● City of Deland – The Bridge Homeless Shelter — $500,000
● Camp Boggy Creek – Childrens’ Mental Health Sessions — $350,000
● Florida Recovery Schools of Central Florida — $100,000
● Volusia Recovery Alliance – Freedom to Change/Inmate Sustained Recovery Program — $96,000
● TechHealth Initiative – Orange County — $200,000
● Ponce Inlet Police Department Solar Electronic Messaging Boards — $36,000
● Community, Cops, Courts & State Attorney Violent Crime Intervention/Seminole County — $492,411
● City of Belle Isle Public Safety Facility — $875,000
● City of Belleview Information Technology Infrastructure — $112,000
● City of Fruitland Park Emergency Operations Center/Public Safety Building — $500,000
● Ormond Beach Police Department and Emergency Operations Center — $1.5 million
● Deltona – Theresa Basin – Flood Control Study — $600,000
● Kissimmee Master Stormwater System and Flood Mitigation Project (Final Phase) — $250,000
● New Smyrna Beach Pine Island/Aqua Golf Canal Dredging and Clean-up — $1 million
● Oak Hill – Infrastructure Expansion — $3.5 million
● Orange County Utilities – Orlo Vista Integrated Water Resources Project — $2 million
● Osceola County Buenaventura Lakes Drainage Improvements — $1.8 million
● Oviedo West Mitchell Hammock Water Treatment Facility – Tank Construction — $1 million
● Ponce Inlet Storm Drainage Backflow Device and River Outfall Addition — $62,500
● Port Orange – Stormwater System Rehabilitation Pipelining — $350,000
● Seminole County Midway Drainage Improvements — $1 million
● West Melbourne – Flood Risk Reduction Connect Canal 70 to Canal 63 — $363,750
● Winter Park Stormwater Disaster Resiliency Project — $500,000
● Restore Indian River Lagoon Inflow Project — $4.9 million
● St. Cloud Rummel Road Regional Trail Connection — $500,000
● Brevard Zoo Aquarium – Dr. Duane Defreese Coastal Conservation Hub Construction — $2 million
● Cocoa Beach Hurricane Hardening of City Hall — $1.5 million
● Meet Us in the Middle Plaza and 8th Street Docks – City of Clermont — $1 million
● Mount Dora Community Resource & Recreation Center — $500,000
● Orange City Municipal Facility Replacement for Transportation and City Works — $150,000
● Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida Resource Center — $187,500
● Ponce Inlet Fire Station Replacement Backup Generator — $35,000
● Sanford Fire Department Station 40 Airpack Replacements — $540,000
● Sanford Station 40 New Engine — $367,500
● Orange City Multipurpose Rescue Facility — $500,000 (trust fund)
● Clermont Hartwood Marsh Fire Station Rebuild — $500,000
● Palm Coast Fire Station 22 — $5 million
● Sanford Cybersecurity Zero Trust Program— $160,000
● Palm Bay – Emergency Radio Equipment — $479,831
● Seminole County Sheriff’s Office Computer Aided Dispatch System — $300,000
● Black History Month Celebration – 1619Fest Orlando/Rebel Run 5K — $160,000
● Harry & Harriette V. Moore Cultural Complex – Cultural Programs & Animatronic Figures — $200,000
● Military History Museum Building Expansion – Osceola — $765,000
● Polk Museum of Art Expansion Project — $500,000
● Polk County Courthouse Roof Replacement — $2 million

You can view the whole list Hogan comprised HERE.

This is exactly what you can expect to see under a DeSantis presidency. He is destroying the state of Florida in a way that will take decades to reverse the damage.

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