Janelle Irwin Taylor
Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed $3 million that had been approved in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, earmarked for generators to ensure access to water and wastewater services during severe weather events, and another $100,000 for security measures to safeguard the infrastructure.
The Legislature had approved full funding for both projects in its budget, but DeSantis slashed them using his line-item veto authority.
Requested in the House by Reps. Linda Chaney and Daniel Alvarez, and in the Senate by Sens. Jay Collins and Danny Burgess, the requests were pitched as a necessity following lessons learned from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which dealt a one-two punch to the Tampa Bay area with both flooding and strong winds.
The larger of the requests, for $3 million, would have been “used to replace aging generators that are in use at critical utility infrastructure throughout Hillsborough County that collectively provide drinking water/wastewater services to more than 250,000 residents,” the Senate request from Collins reads.
“The critical infrastructure that is being targeted is two water treatment plants and two wastewater lift stations,” it continued, noting that “aging generators are at risk of failure.”
The House request, from Alvarez, further noted that “high-speed winds coupled with record amounts of rainfall resulted in many of the Department’s infrastructure losing power.”
“This project will help ensure that four of the Department’s critical utility infrastructure facilities can continue providing water/wastewater service during all weather events without disruption.”
