State Budget Will Reduce Options For Polk Land-Buying Program

As the number of sites for which the Polk County Commission has agreed to pursue land deals under the Enviornmental Lands Program increases, the options for partnerships to stretch the local tax dollars is decreasing, as details of the recently approved state budget have emerged.
The budget is still under review by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his staff, but here is where things stand now.
The Legislature proposed $250 million for the Rural and Family Lands Protection program, which helps to fund conservation easements. Conservation easements keep the land in private hands but prevents intense development.
This works for many rural landowners who want to continue working the land without dealing with the financial pressure to sell out.
Polk’s program accommodates those kinds of deals.
But in other cases, the outright purchase of the property is a better option and this is where the problem lies.
The Legislature approved a measly $18 million for the Florida Forever program–it was $229 million in the previous budget– and nothing for the Florida Communities Trust program, both of which have been used extensively in past partnerships.
To put that in perspective, the amount of money budgeted for environmental land purchases just for Polk and surrounding counties totals roughly $42.5 million.
If you extend that figure statewide for all of the local, voter-approved programs, how minuscule the state’s proposed Florida Forever funding is.
It is also worth mentioning that a constitutional amendment approved by voters and supported by Sierra and other environmental groups was supposed to have provided more funds for the Florida Forever program. However, the Florida Legislature found ways to worm out of it and for reasons that defy the average person’s understanding was upheld in court.