- April 23, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
While neighboring cities received state funding for local infrastructure, Ormond Beach received nothing, said Florida Rep. Thomas Leek at a town hall meeting in Dunn’s Attic Tuesday evening.
“It’s not that no effort was made to get funds for Ormond’s projects,” Leek said. “We actually got some of those projects through the House but they didn’t survive either governor’s veto or make it into the final budget.”
Rep. Leek worked on three member projects during this session. Two projects, one regarding sanitary sewer rehabilitation in the city and the other an extension for Ormond’s south peninsula reclaimed water main line, died during the budget conference project. The funding requested for the projects was $125,000 and $1.2 million, respectively.
The third focused on widening Williamson Boulevard by the Florida Hospital—a 2 million project that made it through the budget conference but was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott.
“The streets in Ormond Beach proper are a disgrace,” said Ormond Beach resident Colin MacManus during the meeting.
He said having lived in the area for the last 22 and a half years, he’d like to have an answer to his concern about all state roads running through Ormond Beach to Port Orange.
Leek said in that instance of public infrastructure, federal, state and local governments involved.
Rep. Leek was able to pass three infrastructure projects through, resulting in $750,000 for a flooding and mitigation water project in Port Orange, $500,000 for a septic to sewer project in South Daytona and $33 million for a post-hurricane beach restoration project.
Leek is looking ahead to the next session this upcoming January and working with the city on future infrastructure projects to propose.
