TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday brought up an idea during his latest Cabinet meeting: eliminating tolls for residents of the Sunshine State.
While discussing the state’s accelerated debt program, which uses state funding surpluses to more quickly pay down the state’s debt, DeSantis commented on the state’s toll costs.
“There is some other debt for the state, like the Turnpike and stuff, which is user-supported, right? Because people pay tolls,” he said. “And I was just thinking: we’re knocking out taxpayer-supported debt. And I know that... other people kind of have purview over this, but I’d love to be able to knock out the tolls and stuff people are paying.”
The governor suggested that out-of-state visitors could foot more of the bill, giving Florida residents a “break.”
“How long do we keep the tolls?” DeSantis asked. “These tolls were - they’ve been here since I can remember. As a kid, they had tolls on the Turnpike. At what point is this all going to be paid off?”
In response to DeSantis’ suggestion, Florida Director of Bond Finance Ben Watkins said his office would “take a look at that.”
[BELOW: News 6 takes a deep dive on Florida’s toll roads]
There are around 700 miles of toll roads in Florida, with researchers saying that Orange County has the most, at over 150 miles.
A report by Florida’s Turnpike System last year shows that toll revenues reached around $1.3 billion in FY2024, with upkeep expenses reaching a mere $275 million by comparison.
However, the outstanding bonded debt during this time was still over $3.2 billion — nearly one-third of the overall debt limit.
[BELOW: $2.5B toll road in Poinciana closer to becoming reality]
DeSantis has taken action on state toll roads several times during his tenure as governor, including suspending tolls during major storms.
The governor has also previously implemented a toll relief program that gave Florida drivers a half refund on their monthly toll fees if they passed through at least 35 tolls a month.
Ultimately, the 2023 program delivered $500 million in savings to over 1.2 million commuters, which comes out to about $400 saved per person, according to DeSantis’ website.
[BELOW: News 6 looks at the 2024 toll relief program in Florida]