Christian Peterson
Reporter@riverbendnews.org
On Wednesday, April 11, Governor Ron DeSantis and his team paid a visit to Lafayette County. Before Gov. DeSantis arrived, his presence was known by the crowd gathering at the steps of the courthouse. Soon, law enforcement vehicles arrived and began blocking off sections of the street. Around 10 a.m., the Governor exited the courthouse, with Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle, Senator Jennifer Bradley, Sheriff Brian Lamb, the Lafayette County Board of Commissioners and members of the Mayo Town Council quickly following.
Gov. DeSantis began by speaking on the rising inflation around the country, with consumer prices jumping to 8.3 percent. Factoring in that, while it may not seem overwhelming right now, that is because of Florida’s response to the last two years. “Florida’s economy has been leading the nation. We are outpacing in job growth, outpacing in workforce. We have more jobs and workers here than we did pre-pandemic. That’s amazing,” Secretary Eagle said.
“All we can control is here and so we’ve done really well. There are a lot of opportunities in this state,” Gov. DeSantis said. “Obviously, when these other states were closed and we were open, it made it a lot easier for us to gain ground. So, we were doing that and we were happy to do it.”
After speaking some more on his hope for Florida’s future, Gov. DeSantis began announcing his commitments to Lafayette County. Following the Governor’s signing of the 2022-2023 General Appropriations Act, Lafayette County will receive: $296,000 for salary increase to local law enforcement in fiscally constrained counties; $400,000 for Lafayette district schools’ Safe and Secure Schools electronic access control key system and fixed capital outlay public schools special projects; $500,000 for Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office communications; $4,586,550 for State Road 20 resurfacing from the Taylor County line to Buckville; $22,000 for Lafayette Blue Springs State Park repairs and maintenance; $28,000 for Suwannee River Wilderness Trail State Park repairs and maintenance and $680,000 for Troy Spring State Park repairs and maintenance. On top of all of this, Gov. DeSantis promised Lafayette they would receive a portion of the $400 million included in the budget for the Broadband Opportunity Grant Program and the $30 million Rural Infrastructure Fund.
“A lot of people don’t understand that it is hard for us to generate the amount of revenue that we need for schools or law enforcement and first responders,” Sheriff Lamb said. “But, when you have a Governor that cares, even about Lafayette County, which is one of the smallest in the state, that’s great. We have a Governor that funds law enforcement and we have a Governor that recognizes that public safety is important for safe living and safe businesses. By these contributions, you are making our county a safer place to live and work.”