What did Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis veto to cut budget by $1 billion? Here’s the list
When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the signing of the new state budget that goes into effect on Wednesday, July 1, he vetoed more than $1 billion worth of local projects and line items. South Florida took a big hit.
DeSantis vetoed $2 million for construction of a five-mile stretch of Miami’s Baywalk that would connect Brickell, Downtown and Edgewater. The state dollars represented about two-thirds of the total cost of the project, which would harden seawalls and create a waterfront promenade fronting Biscayne Bay.
The Underline, a planned $120 million trail under Miami-Dade Metrorail tracks, lost out on $1.5 million in state funding.
“The State of Florida veto was not surprising as the state, sadly, is looking at significant budget shortfalls due to COVID-19,” said Meg Daly, president of the non-profit behind the Underline. She said $100 million in state, federal and local funds have already been secured for the project, and the county can still move forward with the seven-mile stretch running from Miami to South Miami that was set to receive the $1.5 million in the 2021 budget.
DeSantis also vetoed $4 million for the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery, a residential treatment center under construction that will provide mental health services as an alternative to jail. While Miami-Dade funds are enough to cover construction, the state dollars were to subsidize operations once the center opens sometime next year.
“That was a setback today,” said Judge Steve Leifman, the primary advocate for the county facility. He said the facility expects to have about a $10 million yearly budget, so the state dollars would have been significant. “This would have helped us get off to a good start. But look, we’re in the middle of a pandemic.”
Leifman said he’s hoping the Florida economy will recover enough to let the dollars come back to the 208-bed Miami center in time for a planned opening in the second half of 2021. “I don’t know what’s going to happen without those initial dollars,” he said.
The governor also struck another $1.5 million from funding to expand the Bay of Pigs-Brigade 2506 museum in Little Havana. The state support would have contributed toward a $3 million effort to purchase adjacent land, build a new annex to the facility and hire a museum curator. Another Miami organization, the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, saw $500,000 vetoed.
Sunny Isles Beach won’t get $1 million that state legislators had agreed to provide for a pedestrian bridge across Collins Ave. at 174th Street, which is currently in the design and approval stage. City Manager Chris Russo said the project could ultimately cost around $12 million.
“It’s not gonna stop us from going forward, but it would have helped a lot,” Russo said.
Russo said lobbyist Ron Book “worked hard” to secure the $1 million for the city, which was more than Sunny Isles had received in state help for two previous pedestrian bridges. But, he said, “this is not one that we can complain about based on what the governor is faced with.”
DeSantis also made multiple vetoes of projects for Hialeah, whose mayor, Carlos Hernandez, recently said the governor “hasn’t done much” for the city after DeSantis highlighted Hialeah’s high rates of COVID-19. Those vetoes include a $2.9 million request from the City of Hialeah Educational Academy, a charter school that focuses on career training and is funded through the city’s budget. The money was intended to help the school expand its course offerings and facilities to address a 400-student waiting list, according to a funding request.
The governor denied $500,000 of a $705,000 request to support renovations at the Hialeah Emergency Operations Center.
Miami-Dade County will miss out on $600,000 for improvements at the county-owned Deering Estate, $300,000 to expand the shelter at the Humane Society of Greater Miami, $250,000 to provide emergency shelter for people living on the streets in Miami-Dade, and $200,000 for a new animal hospital at Miami-Dade’s zoo.
Many other South Florida projects were cut. This is just a sampling:
Education
$3 million including $2 million in targeted STEM initiatives at Florida International University
$2.9 million to the City of Hialeah Educational Academy
$500,000 Key West Collegiate Academy Building
$500,000 St. Thomas University trade and logistics program
$375,000 AMIKids Career and job placement
$296,000 Miami-Dade Fair Foundation
$250,000 Nova Southeastern health programs
Criminal justice
$4 million South Florida Behavioral Network at the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery
$500,000 Broward County Sheriff’s Office Real-Time Crime Center Expansion
$250,000 Broward County Sheriff’s Office for the cold cases and property crime reduction program
$250,000 Miami-Dade Homeless Trust
Environment
$10 million for sewage system improvements in the Keys
$1 million Miami Lakes Loch Lomond drainage improvement project
$1 million Miami Lakes Royal Oaks drainage improvement project
$800,000 Miami Springs East Drive stormwater road improvement
$500,000 El Portal Little River septic to sewer
$500,000 Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority Stock Island reverse osmosis plant
$425,000 Bal Harbour Village Stormwater System Improvement
$400,000 Tamarac stormwater culvert
$300,000 Coral Gables canal dredging
$250,000 Surfside Abbott Avenue drainage improvement
$250,000 Tamarac C-14 Canal stormwater and drainage
$225,000 North Miami Beach Corona del Mar Phase II sewer system
$200,000 North Miami septic to sewer conversions
$200,000 Key Biscayne Sargassum Removal
$200,000 Miami Beach 75th Street booster station
$150,000 Margate water treatment plant improvements
$150,000 Pinecrest stormwater improvements
$150,000 Sunrise effluent main to water reuse system
$100,000 Sunny Isles Beach Golden Shores pump station
$100,000 Coconut Creek Hillsboro Water Storage tank rehabilitation
$100,000 Coral Gables inflow and infiltration
$100,000 Cutler Bay wetland restoration project
$100,000 Doral stormwater improvements
$100,000 Pembroke Park John P. Lyons Lane stormwater pumping station
$100,000 Miami Shores Village Shores Estates drain water system
$20,000 Miami Gardens NW 159th St. drainage improvement project
Parks
$1.5 million Underline multi-use trail
$250,000 Plantation special needs playground
$200,000 Zoo Miami animal hospital
$100,000 Coral Springs parks and recreation
$100,000 Sunrise bicycle and pedestrian greenways and trails master plan
Transportation
$2 million Miami Biscayne Baywalk
$1 million Miami Opa-locka Executive Airport infrastructure improvements
$1 million Sunny Isles Beach pedestrian park bridge
$900,000 Pembroke Road extension in Pembroke Pines
$500,000 Miami Lakes East ADA pedestrian mobility project
$350,000 North Miami Beach road improvements
$300,000 Miami Shores Village traffic safety
$206,250 North Bay Village sidewalk upgrades
General government
$1.5 million Bay of Pigs Museum
$500,000 Hialeah Emergency Response Operation Center improvements
$400,000 Cuban Studies Institute
$300,000 Humane Society of Greater Miami new quarantine intake building
$250,000 Coral Springs Westside Facility hardening project
$250,000 Camp Matecumbe, Historica Pedro Pan Hall renovation
$250,000 Harry S. Truman Little White House archives
$170,000 Doral master plan update
$100,000 Bergeron Rodeo Grounds improvements
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
