{"id":6232,"date":"2026-07-02T15:05:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232"},"modified":"2026-07-02T15:05:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:05:55","slug":"editorial-the-math-behind-desantiss-budget-vetoes-doesnt-always-add-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

For the last time, Gov. Ron DeSantis inconsistently applied the line-item veto to the state budget that took effect Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Read more Clean bills of health: Which Central Florida restaurants had perfect inspections in June?<\/a><\/p>\n

As usual, he did not always act prudently. What would you expect from someone who squandered well over $1 billion on the \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d immigrant prison that shut down after less than a year?<\/p>\n

The result is a deeply flawed budget crafted largely in secret. It reflects the whims of a governor who admits using vetoes to punish his enemies, and who fixates on numerical targets to meet his definition of cost-cutting.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the stuff wasn\u2019t necessarily bad,\u201d DeSantis said of spending decisions by the Legislature that he wiped out. \u201cIt\u2019s just that I set a target to be underneath the current year\u2019s budget, so we had to get to that level.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many cases, \u201cnot necessarily bad\u201d translated into worthy projects that met clearly articulated state priorities, went through an exhaustive vetting process and still ended up slashed \u2014 while other projects of questionable merit were allowed to stand. This will have real impacts on our communities.<\/p>\n

The result is a mixed bag. DeSantis wisely safeguarded $75 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) to preserve lifesaving medications for Floridians living with HIV. Going forward, the state must fully restore the program and help with pharmaceutical rebates that previously exceeded $200 million a year. Overall, the $118 billion state budget stockpiles more cash reserves, and spends more on schools and Everglades restoration while cutting taxes on household items and for firearms, ammunition and gun silencers.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of projects, gone<\/h4>\n

At a signing ceremony in Tampa on Monday, DeSantis vetoed about $810 million in line-item spending, much of it championed by fellow Republicans. He also erased the planned transfer of $750 million to the state\u2019s rainy-day budget stabilization fund.<\/p>\n

He eliminated hundreds of projects sought by legislators for pedestrian safety, hunger prevention and opioid awareness, and to help kids with autism and the homeless.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To take just one example: DeSantis killed a long list of community programs meant to combat homelessness and poverty, spending that in many cases could end up saving federal, state and local taxpayers money. One those was Hope Partnership\u2019s plan to expand services to families that are homeless or about to lose their homes in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Polk counties.<\/p>\n

\u201cA budget veto isn\u2019t just a line item on a spreadsheet. It\u2019s uncertainty for organizations working every day to meet growing needs in our communities,\u201d said a message on the Instagram feed of Hope Partnership\u2019s CEO Mary Downey.<\/p>\n

Another puzzling take: DeSantis wiped out statewide efforts to expand a federally backed program that keeps vulnerable seniors in their homes who would probably otherwise be forced to turn to nursing homes. Here\u2019s what confuses us: the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) actually saves money \u2014 according to a recent independent assessment, about $2,800 per month, per participant. But DeSantis vetoed nearly 2,000 new slots statewide, including 400 in Orange County and another 100 in Brevard.\u00a0 Killing those expansion slots let the govenor claim he was lopping around $30 million in new spending from the 2026-27 budget. But how much would have been saved through expanding the program? Of equal importance, how many seniors would have been able to stay at home instead of being forced into nursing homes?<\/p>\n

DeSantis math doesn\u2019t always add up.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For sure, legislative spending is often arbitrary and driven by politics, and this budget took two extra months to complete and was done in an atmosphere of extraordinary secrecy.<\/p>\n

On education, the governor boasted of spending more, but the increase of $85 per student, or less than 2%, fails to keep up with inflation. The Florida Education Association, a teachers\u2019 union, said the state would remain 41st in per-pupil spending and 50th in average teacher pay.<\/p>\n

Ratifying the indefensible<\/h4>\n

DeSantis could have made this budget a little better. He didn\u2019t. Instead, he ratified some of the Legislature\u2019s most outrageous decisions.<\/p>\n

Read more Florida Supreme Court wants Orange judge who made political donations to pay fine<\/a><\/p>\n

He signed a budget (HB 5001E) that contains no across-the-board pay raise for more than 100,000 rank-and-file state workers, forcing them to fall even further behind the cost of living.<\/p>\n

He supported spending $2.75 million to rename Palm Beach International Airport for President Trump, a highly controversial act.<\/p>\n

He approved spending $4 million to use AI, artificial intelligence, to catch people who might not be eligible to receive food stamps \u2014 a program already severely reduced by the federal government. Critics fear AI could wrongly deny needed SNAP benefits to poor people. The budget language orders the state to hire a vendor by Sept. 1 \u2014 an invitation to ineptitude and political favoritism.<\/p>\n

Florida TaxWatch identified other potential giveaways in the state prison budget, $1.5 million for an AI-based system to detect contraband in state prisons and $4 million for a \u201cremote interdiction\u201d program to target that contraband. Both magically appeared in the final hours of budget negotiation. DeSantis chose to leave that funding intact \u2014 though he killed a relatively paltry $500,000 sum in the same line item that would support programs to assist the children of incarcerated parents.<\/p>\n

So: Secretive AI vendors yes; traumatized children, heck no. The governor has his priorities.<\/p>\n

A lack of transparency<\/h4>\n

True to form, the least transparent governor in Florida history once again did not explain his individual veto decisions.<\/p>\n

To list 18 pages of line-item vetoes to hit a magic number simply doesn\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n

So DeSantis did not tell the people of Florida why he approved spending $15 million on security at Jewish day schools yet vetoed $10 million for security at Catholic schools.<\/p>\n

But he opposes giving state money to those who \u201cjust don\u2019t share the vision of the state of Florida,\u201d he said in Tampa.<\/p>\n

His vision, that is.<\/p>\n

The Archdiocese of Miami has bitterly criticized DeSantis, himself a Catholic, for his punitive immigration policies and for greatly accelerating death row executions. The school security money had been sought by House Republican leaders, with whom DeSantis has fought repeatedly for two years.<\/p>\n

With this governor, if you want state money, it helps to kiss his ring. They didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The one consolation is that he won\u2019t be around to do it again next year.<\/p>\n

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Florida shark attack on teen inspires start of national alert system<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We find a multitude of flaws in the governor’s line-item veto decisions in the new state budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nEditorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up - Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We find a multitude of flaws in the governor's line-item veto decisions in the new state budget.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T15:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8\"},\"headline\":\"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T15:05:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232\"},\"wordCount\":1136,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Editorials\",\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232\",\"name\":\"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up - Orlando Relocation Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T15:05:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":539},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6232#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Orlando Relocation Report\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up - Orlando Relocation Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up - Orlando Relocation Report","og_description":"We find a multitude of flaws in the governor's line-item veto decisions in the new state budget.","og_url":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232","og_site_name":"Orlando Relocation Report","article_published_time":"2026-07-02T15:05:55+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8"},"headline":"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up","datePublished":"2026-07-02T15:05:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232"},"wordCount":1136,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp","articleSection":["Editorials","Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232","url":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232","name":"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up - Orlando Relocation Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-02T15:05:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0855fec78fc8cd03e3e57c541309ef0a.webp","width":1024,"height":539},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6232#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Editorial: The math behind DeSantis\u2019s budget vetoes doesn\u2019t always add up"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/","name":"Orlando Relocation Report","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com"],"url":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}