St. Johns County State Legislative Appropriations Requests

EDITED: I HAD INADVERTENTLY PICKED UP THE WRONG LINE ITEM FOR KENALL REQUESTS 2285 AND 2136. THE NUMBERS HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED BELOW.

The 2025  Florida Legislative Session opened on Tuesday, March 4. In my last update I outlined the process that is generally used as County’s request Legislative Funding. I used the very important request for funding to address the traffic issues at I-95 and International Golf Parkway as an example of the process.

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This week I’ll provide an update on that specific request and some of the questions asked, as well as sharing a list of all Appropriations requests I could locate for St. Johns County from our Florida Representatives.

A later post this week will include Appropriations Requests from Senator Tom Leek.

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Update on the I-95 Interchange Improvements at International Golf Parkway

The Improvements for the I-95 Interchange at International Golf Parkway are certainly much needed. In my last post I had noted some differences between what the County had submitted and what was in the Appropriations request. I have found a few answers that I will share here.

• Representative Kendall had continued to work with FDOT representatives after the initial reviews and a lower cost estimate for the county was submitted, thus explaining the reduction from 6,000,000 to 3,500,000 and an increase for the Federal Funding from 32,000,000 to 34,000,000.

• It appears there may have been a gap in communication of the numbers back to the county and that has now been addressed.

• In the Attestation Form submitted by the County on March 5, some caveats were added that addresses some differences.
  • The Lobbyist name was changed to Joe Mobley
  • A statement was added, “If state and federal funds are appropriated, the County is prepared to provide $2 million as a local match.”
  • Study was changed from Yes to No – FDOT has directed $500,000 to PD&E, which will start this spring or early summer.

As of Friday, March 7, there was no indication that Congressman Rutherford had submitted a request for the needed Federal funds. Important to note that as a federally funded Interstate, that is a key element in getting this project approved. A question to be asked is, how does this fit into the I-95 widening project? (planned for 2026 – 2027.) And another question, will the state approve funding for this project if there are no federal funds available? We will continue to follow along!

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 Here is a list of the Appropriations requests I was able to identify as being specific to St. Johns County. Representatives Sapp and Greco have districts that cover multiple counties. I tried to identify as closely as possible which of their requests would impact only St. Johns County.

From Representative Kim Kendall

Number	Request	Amount	Attestation Received
2285	First Coast Technical College – Firefighter & EMT Program Enhancement Expansion	760,285	Yes
2136	St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Re-Entry/Co-Responder Program	300,000	Yes
1857	Switzerland Vocational & Community Center	70,000	Yes
1847	First Coast Technical College – Industrial Agriculture Program Enhancements	650,000	Yes
1722	St. Augustine Airport Student Maintenance Training Program	250,000	Yes
1499	I-95 Interchange Improvements at International Golf Parkway	3,500,000	Yes, with caveats
Total		5,530,285

From Representative Sam Greco

2890	The Institue for Classical Education at Flagler College	1,500,000	Yes
2889	World War II Themed Education and Exhibit Building	500,000
2886	St. Augustine Volusia Woods Extension – West Augustine Septic-to-Sewer Project	1,100,000	Yes
2125	The Arc of the St. Johns – Transportation Facility	750,000	Yes
2110	St. August land Purchase engineering, Design and Construction of Resilient Structure on Anastasia Blvd	2,500,000	Yes
2100	St. Augustine Youth Services – intensive In-Home Therapeutic Programs	450,000	Yes
2098	EPIC Behavioral Healthcare – St. Johns EPIC Recovery Center Women’s Substance Abuse Residential	750,000	Yes
2095	St. Augustine Beach Stormwater System Resiliency	1,910,000	Yes
2094	Historic Markland House Restoration	2,000,000	Yes
2092	St. Augustine Teen Center Boys & Girls Club	400,000	Yes
2083	EPIC Community Services – Sober Living Transitional Housing Project Expansion	2,500,000	Yes
2082	St. Johns County Intracoastal Flood Management	8,000,000	Yes
2081	K9s for Warriors – Veterans Suicide Prevention Program	1,500,000	Yes
2080	St. Johns County Council on Aging Shelter & Shade Project	572,000	Yes
Total		24,432,000

From Representative Judson Sapp

2223	HorsePlay Therapy Center – Equine – Assisted Regional Rehabilitation Center	1,700,000	Yes
2184	St. Johns County Police Athletic League (PAL) Diamond of Dreams	1,000,000	Yes
2177	St. Johns River State College – Renovation of Classroom Building and Workforce Training Center Addition	18,773,926	Yes
2172	District 23 Regional Medical Examiner’s Office	6,000,000	Yes
Total		27,473,926

To do your own research and read the details of each request, here is a link to Search Appropriations: 2025 Appropriations Requests

Learn more about each Representative, including how to contact and share your opinions on any of these requests, at the links below. At each link you will find an email form as well as phone number for the Representatives. You will also find a link to all of their Sponsored Bills. More to come on some of those bills as the Session progresses.

Representative Greco: Link for Representative Sam Greco

Representative Kendall: Link to Representative Kim Kendall

Representative Sapp: Link for Representative Judson Sapp

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