Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his “Focus on Florida’s Future” budget proposal for fiscal 2024–2025 totals $114.4 billion, down $4.6 billion from the current fiscal year’s budget.
Tuesday’s budget proposal keeps $16.3 billion in reserves while paying down an additional $455 million in debt and providing $1.1 billion in tax relief.
Bloomberg News
“Success is not something that is handed to a state as large as Florida, it requires a steadfast commitment to supporting families at every step,” DeSantis said.
“By expanding workforce education for high-demand jobs, providing family-first tax relief, ensuring that Florida’s students can access a quality education that fits their needs, investing in resilient infrastructure and putting conservative principles at the forefront of every decision, we have delivered time and again for our residents,” DeSantis said.
Since DeSantis took office in 2019, the state has paid down almost one-quarter of its outstanding debt. The fiscal 2024-2025 budget recommends adding $455 million to the debt reduction program established by the governor last year.
Florida is rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings and all three assign a stable outlook to the state.
The budget includes more than $109 million for residential home mitigation programs and additional oversight of the property insurance market.
This includes $107 million in annual funding to make the “My Safe Florida Home” grant program permanent to continue helping residents through home inspections and cost-sharing for home hardening and wind mitigation programs to reduce insurance premiums and make properties less vulnerable to hurricane damage.
This follows additional funding provided during the legislature’s special session and comes as residents continue to recover after hurricanes Ian, Nicole and Idalia.
The budget includes $1.3 billion in state and federal funding for disaster recovery, mitigation and emergency management. This includes $199.9 million in state matching funds linked to federal funding, which will go to eligible local and state recipients for reimbursement of response and recovery costs.
The budget also includes $396 million in federal community development block grants for local hurricane recovery and hardening, including the CDBG disaster recovery and mitigation programs.
The budget recommends $1.1 million in funding for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to bulk up its ability to gather data on the property insurance market and $675,000 to hire independent reinsurance and mitigation research experts to bolster its ability to review filings and recommend tools to mitigate property damage from hurricanes.
The proposal also includes $1.1 billion in tax relief for residents, which focuses on reducing the cost of homeowner’s insurance as well as expanding sales tax holidays.
The tax package cuts include a one-year exemption on taxes, fees and assessments for homeowner’s insurance policies, which is expected to save taxpayers $409 million while cutting the average insurance premium up to 5%.
The budget also recommends:
- a permanent exemption on Flood Insurance Policies, saving taxpayers $22 million over the year; a permanent sales tax exemption on over-the-counter pet medications, an expected savings of $37 million;
- a tax credit for businesses that employ Floridians with unique abilities, an expected savings of $5 million annually;
- two back-to-school sales tax holidays, an expected savings of $169 million on school supplies, clothing and computers;
- two disaster preparedness sales tax holidays, an expected savings of $49 million on supplies needed during disasters;
- a three-month summer sales tax holiday, an expected savings of more than $241 million;
- a seven-day tool time sales tax holiday, an expected savings of $16 million for skilled workers on tools they need for jobs; and
- an increase of the sales tax collection allowance that’s expected to save small businesses $165 million.
The budget also focuses on the state’s transportation network and infrastructure.
The plan recommends $14.5 billion for the state transportation work program to construct and maintain Florida’s transportation network; $630 million for the second phase of the Moving Florida Forward Initiative, expediting 20 projects to relieve traffic congestion; $75 million for Florida’s ports, logistics centers and fuel pipelines, including vertiport development; and $25 million to expand the truck parking improvement program to increase the number of parking spots available in Florida to cargo-hauling large trucks.
The proposal also includes $100 million for the job growth grant fund to support local infrastructure and workforce training projects; $105 million to continue marketing efforts through Visit Florida; and $175.2 million for the state small business credit initiative, which provides small businesses with access to capital.
In environmental issues, the budget recommends $1.1 billion for Everglades restoration and water quality.
This includes $745 million for projects, such as $550 million for the comprehensive Everglades restoration plan and $330 million for water quality which includes $135 million for the expanded water quality improvement grant program and $100 million for the Indian River Lagoon protection program.
Florida also continued to prioritize the safety of Jewish day schools in the midst of rising anti-Semitism with the budget recommending $10 million for enhanced school security measures. The budget also includes $1.35 million for the Florida Holocaust Museum to educate students on the atrocities of the Holocaust.
“Today’s ‘Focus on Florida’s Future’ budget builds on Florida’s strategic investments in workforce and infrastructure growth to further ensure that if a great company is looking for a place to do business, a mother is looking for a place to raise her family, or a college student is looking for a high-wage competitive job, choosing Florida is a no-brainer,” said Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly.