How the 2023 Turkey Watch report and our tax dollars are related

The 2023 Turkey Watch report is out now.

It’s an annual independent review of Florida’s budget and helps us figure out exactly where our tax dollars are going.

There are 218 projects on the turkey list.

14 of them are in Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Hendry counties.

To get on the turkey list, tax watch identifies items in the state budget it believes does not have a significant impact on the state.

And the group asks the governor to veto them.

The Sanibel slough water quality and resiliency project is one of the budget items on the turkey list.

The project promises to reduce the impact of storm surge on Sanibel, among other things for one million state taxpayer dollars.

Sanibel city manager Dana Souza said that it’s money that could make or break Sanibel come hurricane season.

“I respect the work of the Florida tax watch and the turkey list that they put out I think they got it completely wrong in this case,” Souza said. “And it’s likely somebody who’s never been to Sanibel and certainly hasn’t been to Sanibel since hurricane and that this is an important project because it’s about flood capacity, storm water resiliency and also about reducing nutrient load into our bay which can contribute to red tides.”

Souza said he believes the governor understands the damage Sanibel endured and leaves the project on the budget.

Last year, governor DeSantis vetoed 71 of the 166 budget turkeys.