{"id":324119,"date":"2026-06-30T01:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T01:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324119\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T01:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T01:45:11","slug":"gov-desantis-vetoes-95m-in-local-miami-dade-broward-palm-beach-budget-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324119\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. DeSantis vetoes $95M in local Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach budget items"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Ron DeSantis slashed more than $95 million in South Florida-specific appropriations from Florida\u2019s coming $117.6 billion state budget<\/a> Monday, canceling funds for hundreds of local projects across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.<\/p>\n

The vetoes, detailed in a 39-page line-item letter<\/a> DeSantis sent to Secretary of State Cord Byrd, are part of $1.7 billion in total state vetoes the Governor announced when he signed the budget.<\/p>\n

Broken down by county, Miami-Dade lost the most by far \u2014 roughly $55.3 million in local appropriations \u2014 while Broward lost about $20.7 million and Palm Beach County saw $19.4 million in canceled state funding.<\/p>\n

Miami-Dade County<\/p>\n

The single largest South Florida veto was $5 million for security funding for Catholic schools in Miami-Dade, sought by Miami Republican Rep. Mike Redondo, who is in line to be House Speaker<\/a> in 2030.<\/p>\n

In a November request<\/a> for $15 million, Redondo\u2019s Office wrote that the funds would go to the Archdiocese of Miami<\/a> to cover security improvements at 68 Catholic schools and preschools, where more than 37,000 children are enrolled across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.<\/p>\n

DeSantis defended the cut Monday, contrasting the vetoed funds with Florida\u2019s school-choice scholarship program, which has shifted public education dollars to Catholic schools and other private institutions.<\/p>\n

He added that he doesn\u2019t want security funding, including money previously apportioned to Jewish day schools<\/a>, to become \u201can entitlement\u201d the state would be expected to renew indefinitely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot. I mean, no one has done better for Catholic schools than we have because we have universal school choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started with the security with the Jewish day schools because there were specific threats involving some of those schools and we\u2019ve done that. Now that\u2019s grown too, but what I don\u2019t want is for the state to somehow have an entitlement that we\u2019re going to have to fund all the time. There\u2019s other things that have gone to organizations that just don\u2019t share the vision of the state of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few<\/a> Miami-Dade water and<\/a> stormwater projects<\/a> cleared for $2 million apiece were also vetoed, including security upgrades for the county\u2019s water and sewer infrastructure, a water-main capacity upgrade in Homestead and upgrades to Homestead\u2019s Wittkop Park Water Treatment Plant.<\/p>\n

A fourth $2 million item<\/a> for construction improvements at the Wagner Creek embankments between Northwest 20th Street and Northwest 14th Avenue in Miami was also cut.<\/p>\n

DeSantis vetoed $2.5 million for the first phase of a north bulkhead improvement project at PortMiami, requested by Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez and Redondo, and $1.7 million for a Homestead Joint Operations Center sought by Rodriguez and state Representative-turned-County Commissioner Vicki Lopez.<\/p>\n

He also nixed $1.5 million apiece for a Miami East Flagami flood-mitigation pump station a roller hockey rink at the Palmetto Golf Course<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other seven-figure cuts included $1.25 million for a Homestead roadway expansion, $1 million for South Miami septic-to-sewer conversions and $1 million for a Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office emergency operations command center in Homestead.<\/p>\n

Broward County<\/p>\n

Broward\u2019s two largest single vetoes were both worth $2 million: a stormwater mitigation project tied to Hallandale Beach\u2019s Northeast Quad Injection Well System, and a bridge replacement project for Lighthouse Point\u2019s Northeast 31st Court. Both were requested<\/a> by Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Hollywood independent, with House companion requests filed by Republican Reps. Hillary Cassel of Dania Beach and Chip LaMarca of Lighthouse Point, respectively.<\/p>\n

No other Broward line item topped $1 million, though several fell just under that threshold. DeSantis vetoed $994,000 for the second phase of Hallandale Beach\u2019s 8th Avenue roadway reconstruction, $900,000 for a new Southwest Ranches fire station and $895,000 for a multimodal safety and resilience corridor along Pompano Beach\u2019s North Riverside Drive.<\/p>\n

Palm Beach County<\/p>\n

Palm Beach County\u2019s biggest veto was $4.8 million for a remodel of Palm Beach State College\u2019s Boca Raton administration building<\/a>, sought in matching<\/a> funding<\/a> requests by Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman of Boynton Beach and Highland Beach Republican Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman.<\/p>\n

DeSantis also struck $3 million for a helicopter purchase to support the Health Care District of Palm Beach County\u2019s emergency response operations. A $2 million expansion of the membrane system<\/a> at Palm Beach County\u2019s Water Treatment Plant No. 8 was also vetoed, along with $1 million apiece for an expansion<\/a> of Water Treatment Plant No. 2 and renovation of the nonprofit Connections High School and Vocational Center<\/a>, which serves residents with autism and related disabilities.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Russon contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Ron DeSantis slashed more than $95 million in South Florida-specific appropriations from Florida\u2019s coming $117.6 billion state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15646,49720,506,9935,20142,98690,51448,1714,59898,17845,134101,47277,123,125,124,373,6061,557,8946,23487,11373,412,807],"class_list":["post-324119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-ana-maria-rodriguez","tag-archdiocese-of-miami","tag-broward-county","tag-budget","tag-budget-vetoes","tag-catholic-schools","tag-hallandale-beach","tag-homestead","tag-jason-pizzo","tag-lighthouse-point","tag-line-item-vetoes","tag-lori-berman","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade-county","tag-mike-redondo","tag-palm-beach-county","tag-palm-beach-state-college","tag-peggy-gossett-seidman","tag-portmiami","tag-ron-desantis","tag-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324119","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=324119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}