{"id":72583,"date":"2026-07-02T18:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=72583"},"modified":"2026-07-02T18:36:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:36:33","slug":"desantis-vetoes-three-of-lakelands-four-budget-requests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/07\/02\/desantis-vetoes-three-of-lakelands-four-budget-requests\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis Vetoes Three of Lakeland\u2019s Four Budget Requests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state\u2019s $117.6 billion budget for the 2026\u201327 fiscal year, slashing nearly $810 million in line-item vetoes.<\/sup> Lakeland\u2019s targeted list of municipal priorities took a significant hit.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city requested $4.115 million across four projects.<\/sup> State lawmakers originally approved $3.115 million of that during the legislative session, but the governor’s veto pen cut all but one local project, leaving Lakeland with just $1 million in final state funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is exactly how Lakeland\u2019s specific requests fared:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project<\/strong><\/td>Amount Requested<\/strong><\/td>Final State Funding<\/strong><\/td>Status<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
San Gully Drainage Stabilization<\/strong><\/td>$1,000,000<\/td>$1,000,000<\/strong><\/td>Approved<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Public Safety Radio Replacement<\/strong><\/td>$1,000,000<\/td>$0<\/td>Vetoed<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Septic-to-Sewer Conversion<\/strong><\/td>$2,000,000<\/td>$0<\/td>Vetoed<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Se7en Wetlands Water Education Center<\/strong><\/td>$115,000<\/td>$0<\/td>Vetoed<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lone Survivor: San Gully Drainage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The San Gully Drainage Stabilization Project<\/strong> was the only city request to escape a veto. This $1 million appropriation secures funding for the next phase of a critical infrastructure push to transition six neighborhoods in west Lakeland from aging septic tanks to the municipal sewer system, protecting local water quality and improving flood resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Got Cut<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Septic-to-Sewer Conversion ($2 Million):<\/strong> Despite local focus on water infrastructure, this larger chunk of funding for broader city septic-to-sewer transitions was completely nixed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Public Safety Radio Replacement ($1 Million):<\/strong> Lawmakers backed this funding to upgrade local emergency communication infrastructure, but DeSantis lined it out.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Se7en Wetlands Water Education Center ($115,000):<\/strong> This marks another setback for the project; DeSantis previously cut a $400,000 appropriation for the education center.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The Silver Lining for Polk County<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    While the City of Lakeland’s<\/em> direct municipal requests were mostly blocked, the broader local area did secure substantial state dollars in other sectors:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Higher Education:<\/strong> Florida Polytechnic University<\/strong> secured $10 million toward its new Student Achievement Center. Florida Southern College<\/strong> was awarded $5 million to expand its workforce-readiness programs in agriculture, construction, and architecture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Sixth District Court of Appeal:<\/strong> The local push for a permanent courthouse in Lakeland took a major leap forward with $13 million<\/strong> approved for the project.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Area Nonprofits:<\/strong> Organizations like One More Child<\/strong> ($1.645 million for anti-sex trafficking and family support), Tri-County Human Services<\/strong> ($1.5 million for community detox beds), and Peace River Center<\/strong> ($1.35 million for mobile mental health support and clinics) walked away with significant state backing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state\u2019s $117.6 billion budget for the 2026\u201327 fiscal year, slashing nearly $810 million in line-item vetoes. Lakeland\u2019s targeted list of municipal priorities took a significant… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72584,"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":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDdcL2ltYWdlcy0yLndlYnA_Zml0PTY0MCUyQzM1OSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkRlU2FudGlzIFZldG9lcyBUaHJlZSBvZiBMYWtlbGFuZFx1MjAxOXMgRm91ciBCdWRnZXQgUmVxdWVzdHMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.mI0rUzwlkqjhdsWb5xE7BJ0Q53E4TFsq5PsbccwES3EMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA3XC9pbWFnZXMtMi53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRGVTYW50aXMgVmV0b2VzIFRocmVlIG9mIExha2VsYW5kXHUyMDE5cyBGb3VyIEJ1ZGdldCBSZXF1ZXN0cyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.SZbjmWOCJcbrvis2CnH0mgoIG76HJMJHNj4USjDcbVgMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[15082],"class_list":["post-72583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-desantis-vetoes-three-of-lakelands-four-budget-requests"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72583","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=72583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72585,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72583\/revisions\/72585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}