Gov. Ron DeSantis this week vetoed more than $23 million in South Florida water, stormwater and flood-mitigation projects from Florida’s coming $117.6 billion state budget.
The cuts hit dozens of drainage upgrades, sewer conversions and treatment plant improvements across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The money lost represented more than a quarter of the $95 million DeSantis slashed from local South Florida appropriations.
Miami-Dade absorbed the largest share of the water-related cuts at roughly $13.3 million, followed by Broward at about $6.2 million and Palm Beach County at $3.5 million.
Notably, the budget DeSantis signed Monday included $396 million for targeted water quality improvements statewide, including $301 million for local wastewater, septic-to-sewer and stormwater projects; $45 million for Indian River Lagoon and Biscayne Bay priority areas; $20 million to accelerate total maximum daily load nutrient-reduction goals; and $30 million for water management district projects.
The budget also includes $50 million for springs restoration and springshed land acquisition, $23 million to combat harmful algal blooms and $50 million for the Alternative Water Supply Grants program.
Miami-Dade County
Three projects tied for the largest veto: $2 million for security upgrades to the county’s water and sewer system and for two separate Homestead utility projects.
The water-security item, sought in appropriation requests by Sen. Alexis Calatayud and Rep. Mike Redondo, both Miami Republicans, would have funded access controls, expanded CCTV coverage and perimeter security at treatment facilities, wellfields and pump stations to guard against unauthorized access and service disruptions.
In Homestead, DeSantis cut $2 million for a capacity upgrade of undersized and aging water mains along Krome Avenue, sought in matching requests by Doral Republican Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez and Homestead Democratic Rep. Kevin Chambliss.
Another $2 million was canceled for upgrades at the Wittkop Park Water Treatment Plant, also requested by Rodriguez and Chambliss, that would have built a new 1-million-gallon drinking water storage tank to expand the city’s reliability during peak demand and emergencies.
The Governor also vetoed $1.5 million for a flood–mitigation project in Miami’s East Flagami neighborhood, requested by Miami Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia and Hialeah Rep. Alex Rizo, aimed at building a new stormwater pump station with injection wells in an area that floods repeatedly during king tides and rain events.
Another $1 million was nixed for the second phase of a septic-to-sewer conversion in South Miami, sought by Calatayud and Coral Gables Republican Rep. Demi Busatta, to connect 159 more homes in a flood-prone sub-area.
Two roughly $900,000 vetoes targeted Miami Beach and Golden Beach. The Miami Beach item, backed by Garcia and Miami Beach Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe, was to fund the third phase of West Avenue street elevation and drainage upgrades in a corridor regularly swamped by high tides.
The Golden Beach veto canceled funding requested by Hollywood independent Sen. Jason Pizzo and Redondo for converting the barrier island town’s southernmost storm drainage system from gravity-fed to a forced pump system.
DeSantis vetoed $750,000 apiece for tree-planting efforts to boost stormwater absorption, sought by Rodriguez and Miami Republican Rep. Juan Porras — an outspoken critic of the Governor — and for upgrades to a molecular sieve system at a county regional wastewater plant, sought by Calatayud and Redondo, that officials said would extend the facility’s lifespan by 20 to 30 years.
Smaller Miami-Dade vetoes included three local roadway drainage-improvement projects: $137,500 for Southwest 117th Avenue, $112,500 for Grand Avenue and $93,500 for Southwest 22nd Street.
DeSantis also cut $225,000 for downtown drainage and flood mitigation in Coral Gables, $77,100 for a septic-to-sewer project at Miami-Dade’s Greynolds Raptor Center and $75,000 for a septic-to-sewer conversion assessment in Biscayne Park.
Broward County
Broward’s largest water-related veto, by far, was $2 million for a stormwater mitigation project tied to Hallandale Beach’s Northeast Quad Injection Well System, sought by Pizzo and Dania Beach Republican Rep. Hillary Cassel.
The project, which has now been vetoed two years running, would have rebuilt two stormwater pump stations in the city’s lowest-lying, most flood-prone quadrant — an area with the highest concentration of repetitive flood-loss properties in Hallandale Beach, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency data cited in the request.
DeSantis also cut $750,000 for a canal project in North Lauderdale, requested by Tamarac Democratic Sen. Rosalind Osgood and Sunrise Democratic Rep. Lisa Dunkley, to upsize culvert pipes to relieve bottlenecks in the city’s canal network.
Another $567,500 was vetoed for the rehabilitation of a 30-year-old lift station in Lauderhill, also requested by Osgood and Dunkley, for the replacement of pumps, motors and electrical panels to reduce the risk of sewer overflows.
Three $500,000 vetoes hit Cooper City, Dania Beach and Lighthouse Point.
The Cooper City item, sought by Rodriguez and Davie Democratic Rep. Michael Gottlieb, targeted electrical system upgrades at a water and wastewater plant that also serves Davie and Southwest Ranches. It has gone without a full electric overhaul since the 1970s, the lawmakers’ appropriation requests said.
The Dania Beach veto, affecting requests by Pizzo and Cassel, pulled state funding from a project to replace a failing stormwater outfall in a residential and industrial corridor prone to localized flooding.
The Lighthouse Point cut, meanwhile, negated state dollars going toward refurbishing the first priority area of the city’s Stormwater Master Plan, which identified more than $13 million in needed citywide repairs. Pizzo and Republican Rep. Chip LaMarca, who lives in the city, asked for the funding.
DeSantis also vetoed $500,000 for “shovel-ready” drainage improvements along Park South Road in Pembroke Park and $492,500 for an exfiltration trench system in a chronically flooded Pompano Beach industrial corridor, both sought by Pizzo, with Hollywood Democratic Rep. Marie Woodson filing a matching request for the former and LaMarca carrying a match for the latter.
Smaller vetoes cut $300,000 for flood control and lake maintenance in Hollywood’s Lakes of Emerald Hills neighborhood and $85,000 for the replacement of an outdated radio telemetry system at Coral Springs’ water treatment plant.
Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County’s two largest vetoes both targeted PFAS — or “forever chemical” — contamination at county water treatment plants ahead of a 2031 federal compliance deadline. DeSantis cut $2 million for membrane expansion at Water Treatment Plant 8.
The earmark, requested by Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman of Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens Republican Rep. Meg Weinberger — believed to be a top candidate for U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial running mate — would have helped to build a nanofiltration system serving some 170,000 residents across multiple communities.
The Governor also slashed $1 million from a similar nanofiltration upgrade at the county’s Water Treatment Plant 2, sought by West Palm Beach Democratic Sen. Mack Bernard and Wellington Republican Rep. Anne Gerwig, which serves 140,000 residents.
Both plants currently lack effective treatment for PFAS compounds, which federal regulators classify as likely carcinogens.
DeSantis also cut $250,000 apiece for water distribution system improvements in Boynton Beach’s Bent Tree and Lime Tree communities, sought by Berman and Highland Beach Republican Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, and for emergency generators at two Palm Springs sewer vacuum stations — half the sum that Bernard and Lake Worth Beach Democratic Rep. Debra Tendrich requested in matching proposals.
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