One day before the start of the fiscal year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a roughly $115 billion budget into law, after vetoing nearly $600 million in spending.
The spending plan is about $3 billion less than the current year, and comes after a protracted negotiation between the House and Senate over tax cuts that delayed its approval.
“I think it was true prior to me signing this budget, but I think signing the budget underscores the fact that Florida is the best fiscally managed state in these United States,” DeSantis said at an event in Wildwood on June 30.
The cuts include eliminating more than 1,000 vacant positions throughout the state government.
Some pieces of the budget will see increases, however. State employees will get a 2% raise, and teachers, state law enforcement officers, judges, state attorneys and public defenders will receive targeted pay hikes as well.
The dispute over tax cuts pushed the budget vote 45 days past the original May 2 end date for the 60-day session. DeSantis took another two weeks to assess the bill and consider vetoes.
At the heart of the impasse was the push from House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, to cut the overall sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, while Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, was wary its $5 billion price tag would slash revenues too heavily.
They later compromised on a $2 billion tax cut bill that removed sales taxes on a variety of items. But part of that tax cut and budget deal, an agreement to set aside $750 million in a key reserve fund, was vetoed by DeSantis.
Main highlights for the budget include $23.2 million in the Florida Education Finance Program, the state’s main funding formula for K-12 public schools. That’s a $464.1 million increase on the current year. That increase includes a $102 million boost to teacher salaries.
Other funding brings the total K-12 education budget to $29.5 billion, but that includes a $529.7 million increase in property tax revenues, despite the repeated push from DeSantis on the need to slash property taxes for residents.
DeSantis’ call to backfill the state’s K-12 schools portion of property tax rates with state money while requiring local governments to give a $1,000 rebate to homestead property owners went unheeded by lawmakers.
Instead, DeSantis vowed to press lawmakers to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next year to cut property taxes.
“We need to do a property tax (cut). It’s going to require us to go to the ballot and get it done,” DeSantis said. “We will get that done one way or another.”
This is a developing news story and will be updated. Check back later for more.
