Florida TaxWatch is asking Governor Ron DeSantis to trim $416 million of pork projects, or Turkeys, as the organization calls them in the Sunshine State’s budget.
More than $22.5 million of those recommended cuts target projects in Northeast Florida.
Among them are a million dollars for a new museum at the Olustee Battlefield in Baker County and more than $2 million for the Clay County Archives Building and two trail projects in the county.
There’s also a million dollars for HVAC systems in two county buildings in Columbia County and $70,000 for a community center in St. Johns County.
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Ending up on the Turkey list doesn’t mean that the project isn’t worthwhile, according to incoming TaxWatch President Jeff Kottkamp.
Instead, he explained the projects either didn’t receive funding with proper public scrutiny, jumped in line ahead of other state priorities, or fail to address a core state need.
“We are simply holding legislators and the process accountable for the hard-earned taxpayer dollars that they are spending each year. We are telling legislators very clearly, yes or no, whether they followed the longstanding legislatively established processes the taxpayers of Florida both demand and deserve,” said Kottkamp.
$19 million of the proposed cuts in the region are in Duval County, the largest of which is a $14.8 million allocation for the Hicks Honors College Academic Building at UNF.
The other five projects follow a particular theme: Arts and culture.
Among them, $2.5 million for construction of the new MOSH, $450,000 for the Jacksonville History Center and half a million for the Florida Theater.
There are also two projects totaling $750,000 for the USS Orleck.
“Let’s just face it, TaxWatch doesn’t exist if they don’t have items to criticize. Right?” said Daniel Bean, President of the Jacksonville Historic Naval Museum, which owns the Orleck.
Bean explained the funds would go towards maintenance of the ship and other improvements.
He argued the state’s only historic naval warship is not just an asset to Jacksonville, but Florida as a whole.
“I think it’s a great reminder of how lucky we are today because of the sacrifices that were made previously. You know, we’ve had over 10,000 students onboard that warship,” said Bean.
While the City of Jacksonville did not directly put in for any of the six local funding requests that made the Budget Turkey list, Mayor Donna Deegan’s office is supportive of the funding making it across the finish line.
“While the City of Jacksonville did not put forward state funding requests for these organizations and projects, we have invested local dollars in many of them and believe they are vital community initiatives that share widespread bipartisan support,” said the mayor’s office in a statement.
TaxWatch Vice President of Research Kurt Wenner argued it was the way the projects were funded, not a lack of merit, that landed them on the list.
“Those are projects that didn’t go through the established grant process and were funded above things that did,” said Wenner.
Still, Bean said he’s optimistic funding for the Orleck will be spared, just as it was last year.
“I put my faith in the Florida Legislature. They did their homework. They cut a lot of programs. We were not one of them and that’s why. Because they see the value in what we’re doing,” said Bean.
TaxWatch has estimated the Governor typically vetoes about one-third of the budget turkeys identified by the organization.
It’s yet to be seen how much he cuts from the budget this year, given it’s already more than a billion less than the budget he approved last year.
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