Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis nixed two of Polk County’s largest allocations in this year’s budget, though overall the governor was relatively sparing toward the county with his veto pen.
DeSantis held a news conference Thursday in Fort Pierce to announce his signing of the $116.5 billion budget. In the afternoon, his office released the list of line-item vetoes, which trimmed a relatively small $500 million from the budget adopted by the Florida Legislature in May.
DeSantis vetoed a high-priority item for Polk County legislators, an appropriation of $16.2 million to Polk State College to support creation of the Northeast Ridge campus in Haines City.
Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland, and Sen. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City, requested the funds for the design and construction of a 50,000-square-foot facility to house classrooms, laboratories, offices and student support spaces. The legislators sought the money coming from Public Education Capital Outlay funds for the first phase of the campus construction.
Polk State College officials have said that the new campus is needed to serve the surging population in Haines City, Davenport, Poinciana and the unincorporated Four Corners area.
DeSantis also deleted $11.2 million for a Student Achievement Center at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland. The funds were intended to help create a building to house career and internship services, with study spaces, an auditorium and a collaborative multimedia space, according to a description from Florida Poly.
DeSantis, who is now running for president, also rejected a $5 million appropriation for the widening and extension of Kathleen Road north of Lakeland. The money, requested by Burton and Tomkow, would have been used for a project development and environment study.
But DeSantis left intact $10 million for the extension of Powerline Road in Haines City south from its current end at Hinson Avenue to Scenic Highway 17 in Dundee. The project will create a three-lane road with potential for an expansion to five lanes.
The governor removed $2 million that lawmakers had set aside for repairs to the roof of the Polk County Courthouse. The 10-story building, which opened in 1987, houses the courts of the 10th Judicial Circuit and the Clerk of Court’s office.
Polk County Public Schools lost out on $750,000 the Legislature had allocated for Heartland Biztown and Finance Park, a planned renovation of an existing facility at Tenoroc High School. The school district said the center would host Junior Achievement’s Biztown program, which provides students with experience in entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy concepts and skills.
DeSantis scratched an allocation of $500,000 to the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College to assist with its 14,000-square-foot expansion. The governor vetoed the same amount for a Bartow Public Safety Facility.
Another veto scratched $950,000 that lawmakers had earmarked for a pilot project in Polk County on the commercial uses of phosphogypsum, a byproduct of phosphate mining operations. Burton requested the funding for Novaphos, a private company, to reprocess solid phosphogypsum waste into products.
Fort Meade lost out on $250,000 that legislators had set aside for an emergency shelter and agricultural center.
DeSantis also slashed $450,000 that had been budgeted for a long-term resiliency plan for the Aerospace Center for Excellence and Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland.
Finally, the governor vetoed an allocation of $250,000 for a health science building at Webber International University in Babson Park.
Despite the veto of the Northeast Ridge campus funding, Polk State College will receive $6.1 million to renovate the LAC building on its Lakeland campus. The building, which houses the college’s nursing and respiratory care programs, dates to the 1980s and has not had a significant upgrade, according to Burton’s request.
“Polk State College is thankful that its operating budget was maintained and that $6.1 million was allocated to begin renovations to the Lakeland Academic Center, a $12.2 million project,” Polk State President Angela Garcia Falconetti said by email. “The Haines City Campus will remain the No. 1 legislative priority for the College as it is of critical importance, as Polk County’s largest-serving higher education and workforce training institution, that we continue to meet the workforce needs of our community’s fastest-growing region.”
Falconetti said the Polk State will seek additional funding through grants and donations while continuing to advocate for Northeast Campus at the state level.
DeSantis spared a few local projects that had appeared on the annual Turkey List released by TaxWatch, a conservative business organization. The list covers items that the group says “circumvent transparency and accountability standards.”
Among the identified projects that overcame a potential veto is $250,000 for the renovation of a cigar factory in Bartow that has been vacant and facing potential demolition for years.
DeSantis also disregarded the Turkey label to allow $3.9 million allocated for improvements to the wastewater system in Haines City, which has been plagued by spills, drawing scrutiny from a state agency. Part of the funding will be used to replace Lift Station 22, located near Marion Road.
It appears that Lakeland will finally receive long-sought funding to help develop an education facility at Lakeland Se7en Wetlands, a budget line of nearly $1 million. DeSantis scratched $5 million for Se7en Wetlands from last year’s budget, and both he and his predecessor, Rick Scott, had vetoed earlier allocations.
Other items labeled as Turkeys that DeSantis declined to veto include $2.3 million for a wastewater treatment facility at Warner University in Lake Wales; $500,000 to acquire land for The Barn at Leland Young Legacy Park, a 13-acre project in Alturas; and $500,000 for renovations and improvements at Camp Gilead, a Christian ministry in Polk City.
DeSantis approved a $1 million allocation for a graduate medical education program at Lakeland Regional Health. The network plans to begin its graduate medical education programs on July 1.
The government spared $8.5 million in funding for the Polk Regional Water Cooperative, some of which will help cover the cost of Southeast Wellfield, now being drilled near Babson Park. The PRWC is a collective of local governments working with the Southwest Florida Water Management District to address future water needs.
The budget includes $1.7 million for two projects at Peace River Center, a nonprofit, behavioral health system based in Bartow. One will support a community mobile support team to be placed in Polk County Sheriff’s Office substations.
Polk County Public Schools will receive $3.5 million for the Homeland Agribusiness Academy and just over $1 million to build studio learning labs at New Beginnings High School, a school with three campuses serving at-risk, truant and economically disadvantaged students.
Frostproof will get nearly $1 million to replace septic tanks with sewer service.