Ryan Nicol
It looks like Florida’s arts scene is taking another hit in the upcoming budget.
The community is already reeling after last year, when $32 million in funding for the arts made it into the 2024-25 fiscal year budget before Gov. Ron DeSantis decided to veto that funding in full.
This year’s budget — which was officially passed Monday evening — includes even more money, at $39 million. Assuming DeSantis lets that money through, maybe some could see that as a win.
But when you look more closely, that money is being directed to far fewer organizations than have received state funding in the past. And those that are getting the money tend to be larger organizations, whereas smaller operations that are more reliant on funding are left out.
Last year, DeSantis explained his decision by crying foul about funds going to fringe festivals that contained sexual content. But less than 1% of arts funding requests were for those festivals. So does DeSantis let the money through this year? Or find another boogeyman he can use to bludgeon Florida’s arts community?
Either way, given the way funds are set to be distributed in the upcoming fiscal year, it appears Tallahassee is drastically changing its approach to support the arts across the state. It may be up to local communities and private patrons to decide whether these organizations are worth saving.
Now, it’s onto our weekly game of winners and losers.
Winners
Honorable mention: Floridians in need of a break. Of course, there was plenty of good news in the budget as well, with several advocacy organizations praising lawmakers’ work during the extended Session.
A few areas jumped out in terms of money available to Floridians struggling with rising costs, which is the single most important issue in the state and has been for years, culture wars be damned.
Some of those provisions will help Florida’s rural communities. For instance, the state spending plan provides $10 million for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) to support food banks in more remote areas where services are scarce.
And for Floridians struggling with housing costs, often in more developed areas, lawmakers also aimed to provide help. The Legislature fully funded Sadowski housing funds, which have been siphoned from in the past.
There is broader work to be done to fully address the cost crisis in Florida. More needs to be done on home insurance, for example. But ensuring that some aid is available to those struggling is a good start.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: DeSantis. The Governor had an aviation-themed week of success, but for starkly different reasons.
On the lighter side, DeSantis along with a contingency of state and business leaders traveled to France for the 55th International Air Show. In addition to getting to take part in the festivities, DeSantis also spotlighted some major wins for Florida.
One announcement focused on Otto Aviation moving its headquarters to Jacksonville, bringing with it around 400 jobs. DeSantis also confirmed a previous announcement from earlier this year that direct flights from Orlando to Paris would resume for the first time in more than a decade.
Then, to end the week, DeSantis celebrated flights that evacuated stranded Americans out of Israel amid the nation’s conflict with Iran. They flew out 300 people and rescued over 1,100 more via a ferry.
The state also stepped up in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israelis that triggered renewed instability in the region. DeSantis has demonstrated once again his willingness to aid Israel in a time of need and step up to help Americans in a crisis.
The biggest winner: Florida hockey fans. The hockey capital of the world is … Florida?
To any transplants reading this — especially those from Canada, whose Stanley Cup drought now sits at a whopping 32 years — trust us: We native Floridians are just as shocked as you are.
The Florida Panthers are now back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. And that’s after making the finals as well three years ago but losing.
And the three years prior to that featured three straight Stanley Cup Finals trips by the Tampa Bay Lightning, who also won two of three.
That makes six straight years that a team from Florida — a state that at no point of the year is ever cold enough to play this sport outside — has competed at the highest levels of hockey for the chance to hoist the cup.
Is it fair to teams from the north who live and bleed hockey for generations? Probably not.
But if rival fan bases are complaining, we’re too busy partying at Elbo Room to notice.
Losers
Dishonorable mention: Cliff Long. A report from our Gabrielle Russon this week detailed some embarrassing messages from Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA) CEO, which triggered a probe into his conduct.
The ORRA hired the law firm Polsinelli to investigate a text message exchange involving Long during a 2020 trip to Panama. According to the probe, Long messaged a man saying he wanted to “meet beautiful girls and have fun” while in Panama.
The man then sent him back photos of several scantily clad women.
“o…….m………g……..,” Cliff wrote back, according to the report. “How much?”
Long, by the way, is married.
He denied that anything illicit occurred and said he simply wanted to “have fun” by exploring the city. And ORRA provided an updated statement saying no illegal activity was uncovered.
But ORRA also got pushback over concerns they did not fully vet the allegations, something the Association denied.
This is a situation where, even if nothing illegal happened, that doesn’t mean Long is exempt from criticism. This is a terrible look for him and the organization, doubly so after ORRA just came under fire for being one of several organizations that received thousands of dollars from former Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean.
To their credit, ORRA gave the money back after questions began swirling publicly about Gilzean’s spending patterns. But yet another report about leadership’s decision-making here is rightfully drawing questions about whether change is needed at the top.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Budget turkeys. There’s more than $1.2 billion in questionable spending items present in Florida’s newly passed $115.1 billion budget, according to the budget hawks at Florida TaxWatch.
Around $416.1 million worth of spending earned the group’s notorious “budget turkey” designation. But another $799.5 million was flagged for DeSantis to give “especially close scrutiny” while deciding on line-item vetoes.
As usual, Florida TaxWatch is doing due diligence to spotlight potential problematic spending not based on the merits of the programs, but on the process. And that’s analysis that far too few are doing these days in our “ends justify the means” era of politics we’re currently living in.
It’s unlikely the Governor will take the ax to every one of these projects. But we appreciate that there’s an organization that still exists to educate the public about these issues and put the spotlight on how The Process should play out.
The biggest loser: Sweeping tax reform plans. After being floated as radical changes to provide relief to Floridians, multiple major tax proposals failed to make the cut amid this extended Session.
DeSantis wanted to provide massive property tax relief, possibly by eliminating the taxes altogether. That likely would have required a ballot referendum. But no such efforts made the cut this Session. Instead, lawmakers approved a meager $1 million to study Florida’s existing property taxes and make recommendations on how to move forward.
House Speaker Daniel Perez preferred slashing Florida’s sales tax rate. That too failed.
And lawmakers also briefly floated a radical shift in how tourist development taxes could be used, adding language late in Session to lessen requirements that revenue be used on tourism advertising and freeing it up for other uses. Those provisions were also struck before the close of Session.
Perez has empaneled a committee to study possible property tax reforms ahead of the 2026 Session. It’s entirely possible that it and other major tax reforms can get across the finish line next year.
But for now, those seeking radical change are left wanting, with no one really getting their way.
