Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the $117.6 billion state budget, and, unlike recent years, Pensacola-area projects and programs were largely spared from his $1.6 billion in vetoes.
This year, DeSantis vetoed approximately $4.3 million out of $42.7 million in direct Pensacola-area projects and programs approved in the state budget, with Escambia County’s Public Safety department taking the biggest local hit: $3.1 million of that total.
DeSantis vetoed funding for three projects meant for the public safety department: $700,000 for improvements to the county’s 911 dispatch center, $1 million for upgrading the alert systems in county fire stations and $1.8 million for a hazardous materials regional emergency response vehicle.
Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, had sponsored the HAZMAT vehicle. Salzman also sponsored the fire station management system along with Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers.
Rep. Patt Maney, R-Shalimar, and Sen. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, were the sponsors of the 911 center upgrades.
The city of Pensacola lost $500,000 to pay for a study on the city’s economic growth and transportation that it requested and that was sponsored by Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola.
A $461,382 project to pave Spring Street in Jay, sponsored by Rep. Nathan Boyles, R-Baker, was vetoed, along with $315,000 to study Century’s wastewater treatment plant, sponsored by Salzman.
DeSantis also killed a provision sponsored by Andrade and Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Crestview, that would have extended a $646,000 grant for the Pensacola Little Theatre project for another year, meaning the nonprofit must return any spent funds from the grant.
Overall, Pensacola-area projects and programs are slated to receive about $38.4 million that survived DeSantis’ veto pen.
Included among the funding that was approved is $5 million for a new nursing building for Pensacola State College’s Santa Rosa County campus, $1.2 million for street bollards to be added to the New Palafox project, and $3 million for the Blue Angels Foundation’s Critical Veteran Services
DeSantis hasn’t been shy about vetoing projects from members of his own party, especially when they disagree with him.
Andrade has been a vocal critic of DeSantis in recent years and has faced DeSantis’ veto pen before. This year he told the News Journal that he asked Boyles, Maney and Rep. Shane Abbott, R-DeFuniak Springs, to sponsor projects that he couldn’t because he was chairman of the Health Care Subcommittee.
Boyles and Maney were the only two Republicans to vote against DeSantis’ property tax amendment, so it became an open question whether their projects would face higher scrutiny. At least for the Escambia and Santa Rosa counties projects they backed, that appears not to have been the case.
Here’s the full list of approved local projects and programs that impact Escambia and Santa Rosa counties:
Jim Little is the City Government Accountability Reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. If you have a news tip, please send it to jwlittle@pnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: DeSantis’ local budget vetoes include $3.1M for Escambia public safety
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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By Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
