DeSantis lays out final spending wishlist ahead of last year as Florida governor

As Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares for his last year in office, he’s using his proposed budget to push for his plan to cut property taxes.

The proposal he released Wednesday would have the state set aside $300 million in nonrecurring funding to cover a potential loss in property tax revenue for 32 small counties.

The money is part of DeSantis’ recommended $117.36 billion budget for 2026-2027, around $2 billion larger than the current fiscal year’s budget.

“I’m not saying it’s even going to be necessary, but I’ve put in the budget enough money to completely, 100% reimburse any homestead property tax reduction for those fiscally constrained counties,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Orlando on Wednesday.

The governor’s office said the money was “reserved to support ongoing property tax relief conversations.”

It could serve as leverage as DeSantis tries to convince Florida voters — and lawmakers — that the idea he’s pushed for the past year will work.

Though his office has not released any specific policy proposal to reduce or eliminate property taxes, DeSantis has insisted that voters will be able to weigh in on the issue on the 2026 ballot.

DeSantis’ budget proposal is just that — a proposal. Ultimately, creating the budget is the Legislature’s duty.

One of the legislative leaders in charge of crafting a budget, Senate President Ben Albritton, is from the rural town of Wauchula. Albritton has said he has “concern” over the idea of small counties having to come to Tallahassee to “essentially argue for their existence.”

“Do I love the idea of that? Of course not,” Albritton said Monday.

Earlier this year, Florida’s legislative leaders found themselves at a weekslong impasse during budget negotiations, as Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez pushed for major cuts, including a sweeping sales tax reduction.

The legislative infighting made Florida’s regular 60-day session drag on to more than 100 days. The final agreement was a $115.1 billion budget with a far more limited sales tax reduction than Perez had initially proposed.

DeSantis sparred with Perez throughout that session. Their feud hasn’t ended. Earlier this year, DeSantis criticized the House’s plan to put forward multiple property tax proposals at the same time.

The governor’s budget also includes $6 million to expand the state’s school guardian program to higher education and $20 million to install locks on university campus doors.

This April, a 20-year-old killed two people and wounded six others when he opened fire on Florida State University’s campus. During that shooting, some students near the gunfire found themselves in classrooms that didn’t lock from the inside.

The state’s guardian program was established after the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 students and teachers. It allows school employees who meet certain requirements to be armed on campus.

DeSantis’ budget also puts about $11 million toward a retention program for the Florida Highway Patrol.

The state’s troopers have become Florida’s main arm of immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump took office in January.

A state dashboard shows that troopers have nearly six times the number of “encounters” with people suspected of being in the country illegally than the second-highest law enforcement agency.

The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, in its request for the retention program, said it would help “uphold immigration law to protect our borders and communities, and remove illegal aliens from the state.”

The governor’s proposal also sets aside $450 million to hire 500 new corrections officers and other Florida prison system employees.

DeSantis also wants to put $5 million toward the Department of Health to support the “Make America Healthy Again” push by testing food and other products for contaminants.

And he wants $35 million to extend a sales tax holiday on guns and ammunition and $70 million to put toward maintenance and repair of Florida’s state parks.

Earlier this month, the state released a report saying that the state park system has a $759 million backlog of repairs to address over the next decade.

Legislation included in the governor’s budget package would also transfer the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus to the New College of Florida, which DeSantis has focused on turning into a conservative education hub.

Florida’s budget has grown by about 25% since DeSantis took office in 2019, not accounting for inflation.

DeSantis’ proposed budget will cover his final year in office and the start of his successor’s first year. He is term-limited and will leave office upon the inauguration of the next governor in January 2027.

Three high-profile Republican men have filed to run to fill DeSantis’ spot: U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who has been endorsed by Trump; former House Speaker Paul Renner; and investment firm CEO James Fishback.

Florida’s Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, a Tampa Republican whom DeSantis appointed earlier this year, has also long teased a jump into the governor’s race but hasn’t announced a decision.

Among Democrats, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings are running.