DeSantis vetoes $20.7 million in Broward state funding cuts
DeSantis cut about $20.7 million from Broward projects as South Florida lost $95 million in state money, including school security dollars that reached local families.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida's $117.6 billion budget on June 30 and wiped out about $20.7 million in Broward County state funding, leaving local governments and schools to absorb the loss as the new fiscal year began. The Broward cuts were part of a $95 million South Florida sweep and a far larger $1.6 billion in vetoes statewide.
DeSantis spelled out the cuts in a 39-page line-item veto letter to Secretary of State Cord Byrd. Across the region, Miami-Dade lost about $55.3 million and Palm Beach County lost about $19.4 million. Broward's share landed alongside vetoes that reached PortMiami, Homestead and Miami neighborhoods, and the loss now pushes county and city officials to decide which projects can be delayed, scaled back or dropped from current plans.
The largest single South Florida cut was $5 million for Catholic school security in Miami-Dade, money tied to a request for 68 Catholic schools and preschools serving more than 37,000 children across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. The request came from Miami Republican Rep. Mike Redondo, who is in line to be House Speaker in 2030. DeSantis said the state should not be locked into funding school security indefinitely.
Other South Florida vetoes hit a $2.5 million PortMiami north bulkhead improvement project, a $1.7 million Homestead Joint Operations Center, security upgrades for water and sewer infrastructure, a water-main capacity upgrade in Homestead, work at the Wittkop Park Water Treatment Plant and construction improvements at the Wagner Creek embankments. Palm Beach County lost $4.8 million for a remodel of Palm Beach State College's Boca Raton administration building, which was built in 1992 and had not had a major remodel since.
The Florida Legislature can still override vetoes with two-thirds votes in both chambers. DeSantis has used the line-item veto aggressively in recent years, striking $567 million from a $117.4 billion budget in 2025 before pushing that total to $1.6 billion this year.
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