Florida taxpayers will pay at least part of the $5 million needed to rename Palm Beach International Airport after U.S. President Donald Trump. The news sparked anger among many Florida residents, who opposed the decision included in the state budget.
According to The Independent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed a $117.6 billion state budget that allegedly focuses on “fiscal discipline.” However, the budget allocates $2.75 million in public funds to help rename Palm Beach International Airport as President Donald J. Trump International Airport. According to the outlet, the money would be used to pay for “uniforms, signage and marketing materials.”
While Florida Republicans praised DeSantis’ decision to rename the airport, the move has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers, and at least two lawsuits have been filed to block the renaming.
Floridians Are Not Happy With Paying for the Bill
Florida residents on Reddit’s r/Florida were outraged, but not surprised, to learn that part of the money used to rename the airport would come out of their pockets: “Of course someone else is footing the bill to bolster the orange [expletive]’s ego.”
Others seemed skeptical that the cost would not increase over time: “So, does that mean in two weeks they’ll pay the whole bill, and it will now cost $25 million, the issue will get tied up in court, and the money will just kind of disappear? It seems like this is how things work these days.”
Part of the outrage stemmed from what users saw as the DeSantis administration’s rhetoric of fiscal restraint. As one user put it, “And the people using food stamps for food are the ones stealing our tax dollars.” Someone else said: “So we have $5M to change the name of an airport to appease an 80-year-old dementia patient, but we don’t have money for schools, infrastructure, and other items that were on DeSantis’ $800M veto list.”
As the renaming moves forward and public funds are spent on the project, the debate is unlikely to end anytime soon. Some users even suggested the issue would remain contentious long after the process is complete. As one user said in the thread: “I hope these [expletive] know that once we take this state back, we are just gonna change the name again. But we will crowdsource for that one.”
