Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the 2025-2026 state budget on Monday, approving $117.4 billion in spending for next year. Along with signing off on the majority of what the legislature approved in the budget, he also vetoed $567 million in line items impacting various communities across the state.
A sigh of relief will be in order for Flagler residents, who saw none of the county’s funding appropriations vetoed. In last year’s budget process DeSantis vetoed almost one third of the initiatives destined for the county – $46.5 million out of $151 million in approved funds. It was the last year Flagler County had the legislature’s top Republican, then-Speaker Paul Renner, advocating for the county he represented.
Click here to read a veto summary list from Florida’s 2025-2026 budget.
Flagler County Fares Well
Flagler County escaped the veto process this time around. Projects such as Palm Coast’s $2.5 million wastewater treatment expansion and $125,000 for a YMCA center in Town Center were approved.
DeSantis represented Flagler County in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2012 until 2018, when he successfully ran for governor. Also part of DeSantis’ constituency in Florida’s 6th congressional district was a portion of Volusia County, which did not fare as well as Flagler in DeSantis’ budget vetoes this year.
Volusia County Vetoes
Over $5.1 million of funding initiatives in Volusia County were vetoed, down from $14.3 million in vetoes last year.
The City of DeBary was hit harder than any other community in Volusia County, with $1.5 million being vetoed from their appropriations. The city had asked for the funds to facilitate stormwater improvements following local residential flooding in recent major hurricanes. Next on the list was Orange City, which lost out on $900,000 for a new fire station.
Daytona Beach was deprived of $750,000 for a new training facility that would’ve served the city’s police department. Each having $500,000 vetoed were Ormond Beach and Ponce Inlet, which were planning on funding a stormwater analysis project and renovations to a fire station respectively.
Each with lesser vetoes were Lake Helen ($412,500 for City Hall renovations and stormwater improvements), Deltona ($375,000 for floodwater mitigation), Daytona Beach Shores ($12,500 for sandbag fillers), and Holly Hill ($12,500 also for sandbag fillers. Non-governmental institutions that lost out on funding included Stetson University and the Volusia County Free Clinic.
What Was Approved
Among the items that did get approval in Gov. DeSantis’ 2025-26 budget were a series of tax relief programs, education initiatives, economic development projects, and law enforcement programs among others. “Once again, Florida is spending less than the previous year,” DeSantis said. “Since I took office in 2019, we have also tripled Florida’s Rainy-Day Fund. With this year’s additional commitment, the fund is maxed out.” His statement is true – Florida has brought its state budget down modestly in each of the last two budget cycles after increasing at a steeper pace for the first five years of DeSantis’ governorship.
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers
DeSantis approved a permanent back-to-school sales tax holiday, eliminating sales tax on items such as clothing, school supplies, learning aids, and personal computers for the month of August. Permanently tax-exempt are event tickets, state park admissions, life jackets, sunscreen, bicycle helmets, bug spray, batteries, portable generators, tarps, gas cans, tie-down kits, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors. DeSantis also approved a tax holiday on firearms, bows, ammunition, and hunting supplies from September 8th to December 31st of this year.
$1.36 billion was appropriated for teacher salary increases, part of a larger $15.9 billion fund for K-12 public schools. This includes a continued commitment of taxpayer dollars to students enrolled in Florida’s school choice program, in which families can use vouchers to enroll their students in private schools instead of public ones. The state government claims that over 429,000 students are utilizing this program.
The new budget sets aside $15.1 billion for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the bulk of which will go toward construction of transportation infrastructure. Also approved, on a much smaller scale, is a $49 million fund to support pay raises for over 16,200 law enforcement officers in Florida.
