{"id":72451,"date":"2026-06-30T18:46:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=72451"},"modified":"2026-06-30T18:46:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:46:57","slug":"desantis-vetoes-millions-in-polk-county-heres-what-was-spared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/30\/desantis-vetoes-millions-in-polk-county-heres-what-was-spared\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis vetoes millions in Polk County. Here’s what was spared"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state\u2019s 2026\u201327 fiscal year budget, cutting roughly $810 million in line-item vetoes across Florida.<\/sup> Polk County\u2014and Lakeland specifically\u2014felt a significant pinch, with several major city requests getting completely wiped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it wasn’t all bad news; higher education, infrastructure projects, and several local nonprofits walked away with substantial state backing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the breakdown of what was cut and what was ultimately spared in the final budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u274c What Was Vetoed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lakeland city officials took a heavy blow, losing out on three of their four primary funding requests.<\/sup> Key cuts included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Septic-to-Sewer Conversion Project ($2 million):<\/strong> Axed by the governor, stalling a major city utility initiative.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Public Safety Radio Replacement ($1 million):<\/strong> Denied state funding to update local emergency communication tech.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • United Way of Central Florida ($1 million):<\/strong> Funding cut for the Unified Community Campus project.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Polk County Public Schools Mobile STEM Lab ($250,000):<\/strong> State funds rejected for buying and outfitting a mobile lab meant to bring hands-on career and science exploration directly to local schools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Se7en Wetlands Water Education Center ($115,000):<\/strong> Wiped from the final budget, marking another year this environmental education project missed out on state funds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    What Was Spared<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Despite the local line-item hits, several major regional institutions and community services secured significant funding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Infrastructure & Higher Education<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Polk State College ($25.4 million):<\/strong> Secured the green light to remodel and renovate Building 3 on the Lakeland campus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Sixth District Court of Appeal ($13 million):<\/strong> Approved for a permanent, dedicated courthouse building right here in Lakeland.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Florida Polytechnic University ($10 million):<\/strong> Funded for the continued construction of its new Student Achievement Center. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • San Gully Drainage Stabilization Project ($1 million):<\/strong> The lone survivor among the city of Lakeland’s direct requests, securing crucial funds to continue connecting west Lakeland neighborhoods to city wastewater infrastructure and stabilizing local drainage. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Community Nonprofits & Mental Health<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • One More Child ($1.645 million total):<\/strong> Received a major boost split across three areas\u2014$850,000 for anti-sex trafficking initiatives, $495,000 for single-mother services, and $300,000 for family support and prevention programs. LkldNow<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Peace River Center ($850,000):<\/strong> Fully approved to fund a community mobile crisis support team.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • ConnectED Polk ($500,000):<\/strong> Spared to help fund a certified community behavioral health clinic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Heartland for Children ($460,000 total):<\/strong> Received $285,000 to replace aging asphalt at the Heartland Youth Village and an additional $175,000 to repair and renovate foster care group homes on the campus. LkldNow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state\u2019s 2026\u201327 fiscal year budget, cutting roughly $810 million in line-item vetoes across Florida. Polk County\u2014and Lakeland specifically\u2014felt a significant pinch, with several major city… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTE4LndlYnA_Zml0PTMwMSUyQzE2NyZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkRlU2FudGlzIHZldG9lcyBtaWxsaW9ucyBpbiBQb2xrIENvdW50eS4gSGVyZSYjODIxNztzIHdoYXQgd2FzIHNwYXJlZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.mpJpvy6MI5kYJs3FzKEEsLg0XUYlb4vDS78C6HtJV6MMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA2XC9kb3dubG9hZC0xOC53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRGVTYW50aXMgdmV0b2VzIG1pbGxpb25zIGluIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5LiBIZXJlJ3Mgd2hhdCB3YXMgc3BhcmVkIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.iu27tnJQ2ZFFIgMjTk5aVd_F8lEJuVcEpayx4l9KBXQMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[15064],"class_list":["post-72451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-desantis-vetoes-millions-in-polk-county-heres-what-was-spared"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72453,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72451\/revisions\/72453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}