Janelle Irwin Taylor
Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed more than $14 million from the freshly approved state budget that had been approved for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Aviation Section hangar.
A pair of Daniels had requested the funds — Sen. Danny Burgess and Rep. Daniel Alvarez.
The two had requested funds for HCSO to help fund a new hangar facility to house the agency’s “growing fleet of aircraft.”
HCSO is requesting the hangar, which would be larger than its existing one, to “provide HCSO’s aircraft, personnel, and equipment better protection from dangerous storms such as hurricanes,” and it “would allow HCSO to provide space for partner agencies to store their aircraft temporarily when required.”
The appropriations request argued the funding is needed “to support the growing population” of Hillsborough County through adequate aviation support for patrol operations and investigations, as well as to respond to wildfires, requests for post-hurricane supplies, and search and rescue operations.
Making the veto even more of a sting, HCSO had appeared to score a big win in the upcoming fiscal year budget.
The Senate had completely zeroed out HCSO’s hangar request in its initial budget offer, while the House had offered just half the requested funds. Ultimately, though, the approved budget included full funding.
DeSantis has line-item veto power, and he used it to slash funding. The HCSO appropriation was the third-largest line item DeSantis vetoed.
