About the Budget Turkey Watch Report
The Budget Turkey Watch report is Florida TaxWatch’s annual review of Florida’s upcoming budget. The report was started in 1983 and promotes oversight and integrity in the state’s budgeting process based on the principle that: because money appropriated by the Legislature belongs to the taxpayers of Florida, the process must be transparent and accountable, and every appropriation should receive deliberation and public scrutiny. The budget review identifies appropriations that circumvent transparency and accountability standards in public budgeting.
Budget Turkeys are items, usually local member projects, placed in individual line-items or accompanying proviso language that are added to the final appropriations bill without being fully scrutinized and subjected to the budget process.
The Budget Turkey label does not signify judgment of a project’s worthiness. Instead, the review focuses on the Florida budget process, and the purpose of the Budget Turkey label is to ensure that all appropriations using public funds receive the deliberation, debate, and accountability they deserve. While a project may be worthwhile, Budget Turkeys tend to serve a limited (not statewide) area, are often not core functions of government, are more appropriately funded with local or private dollars, and can circumvent competitive bidding or selection as well as oversight and accountability.
Florida TaxWatch is not recommending that the Governor veto any specific project on the Budget Turkey list. We are providing this report to assist the Governor in his budget deliberations, recommending that he not only consider the value and efficacy of a project, but also if it meets turkey-criteria, if it addresses a core state government function, and if it was selected through a fair process that promotes the best interest of taxpayers statewide.
Budget Turkey Criteria
To be considered a Budget Turkey, a line item must fall into one of the following:
- A project that circumvents established review and selection processes or has completed the established process but is funded ahead of much higher priority projects (as determined by the selection process);
- Appropriations that are inserted in the budget during conference committee meetings, meaning they did not appear in either the final Senate or House budgets;
- Appropriations from inappropriate trust funds; duplicative appropriations; and appropriations contingent on legislation that did not pass; and/or
- Appropriations that may have been in the House or Senate budget, but were removed by agreement in conference, only to be added back at the last minute through the supplemental appropriation (“sprinkle”) lists.
2026 Budget Turkey Watch Report
The What, Why, and How of the Budget Turkey Watch Report
Florida TaxWatch’s annual Budget Turkey Watch Report for 2025 meticulously examines the state budget to identify appropriations that deviate from sound fiscal management principles. Above is an expanded overview of what Budget Turkeys are, why they are identified, and how they are determined.
What, Why, and How One-Sheet
The one-sheet is very simply a one sheet of the who/why/how report.
The Reports
2026 Budget Turkey Watch Report: FY2026-27
Introduction Many in the Florida Legislature have been rightly criticizing local governments for rapidly increasing property taxes and budgets. The property tax debate and the state’s Chief Financial Officer’s audits of local governments have raised accusations of wasteful and inefficient spending. The resulting proposed constitutional amendment the Legislature is placing on the November 2026 ballot
2025 Budget Turkey Watch Report
Florida TaxWatch’s 2025 Budget Turkey Watch Report delivers an independent, line-by-line review of Florida’s conference budget worth $115.1 billion. It identifies 238 appropriations totaling $413.5 million that bypassed established vetting procedures or public scrutiny—designating them as “Budget Turkeys”—and flags an additional $799.5 million in member projects that merit heightened executive review.
The What, Why, and How of the Florida TaxWatch Budget Turkey Watch Report
Florida TaxWatch’s annual Budget Turkey Watch Report for 2025 meticulously examines the state budget to identify appropriations that deviate from sound fiscal management principles. Below is an expanded overview of what Budget Turkeys are, why they are identified, and how they are determined.
2024 Budget Turkey Watch Report
Florida TaxWatch is proud to present the 2024 Budget Turkey Watch Report, an annual independent review that has been a staple since 1983. This report scrutinizes the Florida FY2024-25 budget, identifying appropriations that bypass established legislative procedures. Known as Budget Turkeys, these appropriations often serve limited areas, are not core state functions, or circumvent competitive
2023 Budget Turkey Watch Report
This is the Florida TaxWatch annual independent review of Florida’s FY2023-24 budget process. The report was started in 1983 and promotes oversight and integrity in the state’s budgeting process based on the principle that: because money appropriated by the Legislature belongs to the taxpayers of Florida, the process must be thorough, thoughtful, transparent, and accountable.
