The Governor’s total recommendation for the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Bold Vision for a Brighter Future budget is $91.3 billion. The General Revenue portion is $33.8 billion. The General Revenue funds available for the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 budget year increased $1.0 billion from the previous fiscal year, a 3.1 percent increase. Florida’s total reserves are $5.2 billion.

Budget Savings

The Bold Vision for a Brighter Future budget recommends $98.2 million in savings and a reduction of 94 positions. Notable savings contained in the Governor’s recommended budget include:

Administrative and operational efficiencies of $16.5 million Savings resulting from contract and lease renegotiations are $3.3 million Debt service savings of $55.0 million as a result of refinancing efforts Reduced excess budget authority of $22.9 million

Taxpayer Savings

Governor DeSantis is committed to continue to cut Floridians’ tax burden. The Bold Vision for a Brighter Future budget proposes to cut taxes by $335 million. Florida’s per capita state tax burden of $1,822 currently is the second lowest among all states.Governor DeSantis’ $335 million tax cut package includes:

Sales Tax Holidays to Save Families $45.3 Million- This includes funding for two sales tax holidays which will save Florida families an estimated $45.3 million in the upcoming fiscal year, including: $39.5 million from a 3-day back-to-school sales tax holiday helping Florida families prepare for the upcoming school year; $5.8 million from one-week disaster preparedness sales tax holidays to encourage Floridians to be prepared for the hurricane season. Property Tax Cut Worth Nearly $300 million The Bold Vision for a Brighter Future budget reduces the property tax millage rate by 0.157 in the required local effort in the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) for an overall property tax cut of $289.7 million.

Florida Reserves

Florida continues to maintain strong reserves. Reserve amounts included in the Governor’s budget recommendation are: $1.4 billion in unallocated General Revenue $1.6 billion in the Budget Stabilization Fund $1.5 billion in unallocated Trust Funds $0.7 billion in Tobacco Reserves

Florida Retirement System

Pension Unfunded Liability – The unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) of the Florida Retirement System (FRS) Defined Benefit Program amounted to $29.9 billion on June 30, 2018. Based on an actuarial liability of $186.0 billion and an actuarial value of assets of $156.1 billion, the program is 83.9 percent funded as of June 30, 2018.

The Bold Vision for a Brighter Future budget implements the recommendations of the independent actuary and proposes to fully fund the recommended contributions to both the normal cost and the UAL for state employees. This helps Florida continue to have one of the best funded pension plans of the largest states in the nation.