Florida - Tuesday June 6, 2023: Florida TaxWatch (FTW) has released its 2023 Budget Turkey Watch Report, an independent review of the state’s $117 billion Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget.
FTW is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog and taxpayer research institute. Since 1983, FTW has provided Floridians with its Turkey Report which identifies individual appropriations that have circumvented a thoughtful and thorough budget process.
The annual Budget Turkey Watch Report is based on the principle that, because funds appropriated by the legislature belong to Florida taxpayers, the process must be transparent and accountable, and every appropriation should receive proper deliberation and public debate.
This year’s review has identified 218 appropriations items worth $598.7 million that qualify as Budget Turkeys.
The Budget Turkey label does not signify judgement of a project’s worthiness. Rather, it indicates that an appropriation was inserted in the budget during conference committee meetings, meaning it did not appear in either the final Florida Senate or House of Representatives budget. And then the item was added back into the budget through the supplemental appropriations lists which are known as “sprinkle lists”. That bypassed the existing grant and other legislatively established selection processes, and it may be duplicative, derived from inappropriate trust funds, or contingent on legislation that did not pass.
The FY 2023-24 budget includes sprinkle list projects totaling a combined $670 million, all developed and agreed to in private without any opportunity for public input.
In a May 2023 briefing, FTW recommended that Gov. DeSantis closely scrutinize 38 of the projects, worth $53.3 million, that were removed from the budget during conference negotiations, only to be added back at the last minute through the sprinkle lists. FTW has long asserted that these lists diminish confidence in the budget process and should be discontinued.
“Florida TaxWatch is proud to present our annual Budget Turkey Watch Report, which includes detailed information and thoughtful insight that we hope will serve as a resource to Gov. DeSantis throughout his budget deliberations," said Florida TaxWatch Board Chairman Piyush Patel in a news release. "With this comprehensive list in hand, we are confident that he will carefully apply his line-item veto power and once again put the best interests of all tax-paying Floridians first.”
While FTW is not recommending that the Governor veto any of the projects on the Budget Turkey list, the watchdog organization is encouraging him to provide “especially close scrutiny” to all 218 projects, as well as nearly $1.2 billion in member projects contained in specific line-items. These member projects do not qualify as Budget Turkeys, but they are being flagged because a formal competitive selection process is needed for them or they do not serve a statewide purpose or align with a core function of state government.
According to FTW, the FY 2023-24 state budget contains a record number of member projects – more than 1,540, worth approximately $3.2 billion (up from $2.8 billion last year). With that, each of the 160 lawmakers were able to secure, on average, 10 member projects worth $20 million for their home district this year. Additionally, over the last seven years, almost $9 billion in member projects have been funded.
Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro said, “Over the last few years, Florida has been fortunate to experience generational investments in critical needs, as well as record tax relief for its hard-working citizens and their families – and this year is no different. While this year’s state budget overall is very responsive and helpful to taxpayers, Florida’s budget surplus is shrinking, and the state’s exorbitant revenue growth is expected to slow considerably in the near future. It is essential to our continued success that Gov. DeSantis and legislative leaders remain responsible with taxpayer dollars, ensuring that all state budget projects are funded with a transparent, coordinated, and statewide vision. Florida TaxWatch is honored to offer the 2023 Budget Turkey Watch Report as a means to that end.”
Ultimately, to bolster the integrity of Florida’s budget process, while stabilizing the proliferation of member projects, FTW suggests establishing competitive review and selection processes in statute for the following budget areas: Water Projects, Local Transportation Projects, Housing and Community Development Projects, School and Instructional Enhancements, Private College and University Projects, Special Local Law Enforcement Projects, Local Fire Service, Economic Development Projects, Local Emergency Management Facilities, and Workforce Projects.
Please click here for more information and to access the full 2023 Budget Turkey Watch Report.