These Escambia, Santa Rosa Items Named ‘Budget Turkeys’

April 29, 2022

Only a few Florida Tax Watch “turkeys” were in Escambia or Santa Rosa counties.

Escambia County Total: $1,105,000

  • Veteran Memorial Park Maintenance and Repair, $355,000
  • West Florida Historic Preservation – Site Preservation and Operations, $750,000

Santa Rosa County Total: $1,050,000

  • Town of Jay Bray-Hendricks Park Master Plan, $300,000
  • Smart Stormwater Management, $250,000
  • Milton North Santa Rosa Regional Water Reclamation Facility, $500,000

The Budget Turkey Watch report is Florida TaxWatch’s annual review of Florida’s upcoming budget. The report was started in 1983 and promotes oversight and integrity in the state’s budgeting process based on the principle that: because money appropriated by the Legislature belongs to the taxpayers of Florida, the process must be transparent and accountable, and every appropriation should receive deliberation and public scrutiny. The budget review identifies appropriations that circumvent transparency and accountability standards in public budgeting.

Budget Turkeys are items, usually local member projects, placed in individual line-items or accompanying proviso language that are added to the final appropriations bill without being fully scrutinized and subjected to the budget process, according to TaxWatch.

The Budget Turkey label does not signify judgment of a project’s worthiness. Instead, the review focuses on the Florida budget process. The group said the purpose of the Budget Turkey label is to ensure that all appropriations using public funds receive the deliberation, debate, and accountability they deserve.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News