{"id":301106,"date":"2026-06-09T09:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301106\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:43:07","slug":"rays-stadium-among-830-million-in-florida-budget-turkeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301106\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays stadium among $830 million in Florida budget ‘turkeys\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida\u2019s biggest \u201cbudget turkey\u201d this year is associated with a new stadium<\/a> for the Tampa Bay Rays. <\/p>\n

Florida TaxWatch, an influential fiscal watchdog group, has released its annual report<\/a> on \u201cbudget turkeys.\u201d The term refers to appropriations that the group says weren\u2019t properly vetted or didn’t go through the normal legislative process.<\/p>\n

The group called out $50 million for Hillsborough College improvements associated with<\/a> a proposed Tampa Bay Rays stadium being eyed for one of its campuses.<\/p>\n

The $2.3 billion stadium would be built on land now used by the college’s Dale Mabry campus as part of a multi-use development. The state would rebuild the campus on another part of the 130-acre plot.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Florida\u2019s property tax reduction plan heads to voters. Here\u2019s what\u2019s in it<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida lawmakers passed a $114.5 billion budget last month. Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to sign it \u2014 or to announce<\/a> what parts he\u2019ll veto.<\/p>\n

Florida TaxWatch says there are 621 turkeys this year, reaching nearly $830 million.<\/p>\n

“Both budget turkeys and member projects have proliferated at an accelerated rate in recent years,\u201d said Jeff Kottkamp, its president and CEO, in a Monday press conference. \u201cThis is a trend we believe is wholly unsustainable.”<\/p>\n

The identified turkeys include $5 million for a Florida State University basketball training facility, $1 million for the Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo, and a number of local water projects. <\/p>\n

And the group flags another $441 million in appropriations it says aren’t turkeys but should get more scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Most of the turkeys and other appropriations Florida TaxWatch deems questionable are member projects, which refer to funding items lawmakers seek out for their districts.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: CFO tells Florida voters don’t believe ‘big government apologists’ hype on property tax<\/a><\/p>\n

The budget for next year holds around $2.7 billion in member projects, according to TaxWatch. That number<\/a> was just $450 million in 2019.<\/p>\n

The report says the average senator secured funding for about 45 local projects worth roughly $60 million, while the average House member got about 15 projects worth around $20 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpending should make a positive, lasting difference in our communities, but at the same time, there must be transparency and opportunities for public input before a project makes it in the budget,\u201d Kottkamp said.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team\u00a0by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s biggest \u201cbudget turkey\u201d this year is associated with a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-301106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}