Palm Beach County commissioners on Sept. 16 officially demanded that Florida lawmakers restore funding to Tri-Rail, weeks after opposing state officials’ demands that county taxpayers pony up millions of dollars for the publicly funded South Florida passenger train.
All seven elected commissioners voted to send a letter and lobbyists to lawmakers of the state House of Representatives and the state Senate, urging them to restore the money that the Florida Department of Transportation said in July it would cut from Tri-Rail.
FDOT claimed the right to cut $27 million following lawmakers passing a state budget in June.
Representatives for the two most powerful members of the state Legislature — House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton — did not return requests for comment. Lawmakers are scheduled to meet again in the spring of 2026 for their annual session to debate and pass laws. Members face reelection in November 2026.
Palm Beach County interim administrator Todd Bonlarron said during an Aug. 28 county commission meeting that Perez has indicated he wants to “fix” Tri-Rail’s funding issue in 2026.
Commissioners did not discuss their vote. In their letter to state lawmakers, commissioners noted that more than 4.5 million people in the past year took Tri-Rail in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, a record amount.
They warned that gutting the public passenger rail could worsen daily traffic on Interstate 95 and Florida’s Turnpike because thousands of former rail riders could be forced to drive those highways. Tri-Rail officials have said the train would stop rolling along its 73.5 miles of track up adjacent to I-95 by mid-2027 without the state’s regular yearly funding.
FDOT gave Tri-Rail $59 million between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, and rail officials expected the department to contribute $42 million for the 12 months ending June 2026. But Tri-Rail still has not received any money from FDOT, a rail spokesperson said Sept. 16.
FDOT has said it wants Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties to make up for its deficit. But Palm Beach County commissioners on Aug. 26 opposed state transportation officials’ demand. FDOT would still own the rail line while county taxpayers would foot the bill to maintain it, commissioners said.
Plus, commissioners said in August, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ fight to eliminate local governments’ main revenue source, property taxes, might mean counties would be unable to pitch in for Tri-Rail anyway.
Tri-Rail’s budget is $149 million, with $49.3 million spent on repairing, maintaining and coordinating trains running along the 73.5 miles of tracks it shares with the federal passenger train Amtrak and the freight rail company CSX.
In addition to FDOT’s cuts, Tri-Rail faces an additional $30 million deficit because of COVID-19 relief funds running out by the end of 2026.
Miami-Dade County commissioners on Sept. 3 also approved the same letter and lobbying order Palm Beach County commissioners did on Sept. 16.
Chris Persaud covers transportation in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email news tips and article ideas to cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Unhappy about a $27 million Tri-Rail cut, county to send lobbyists to help restore funding
Reporting by Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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