Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced this week that St. Petersburg Beach would be awarded a $2 million grant that will go towards wastewater infrastructure improvements. With this money, the Governor expects the city to finalize its system.
In speaking of St. Pete’s beach, Governor DeSantis expressed that “it was rated the number one beach in the U.S. and fifth-best in the world, and we have a lot of people that want to come here.”
Florida’s Job Growth Grant Fund is providing the grant, and the funding is estimated to create 1,300 jobs. Moreover, it is expected to generate $13 million annually. The city will be matching the funding, and it will all go towards finalizing the wastewater system overhaul.
In turn, it would provide greater hotel capacity, which the state hopes will translate into helping the surrounding businesses.
“If you have more hotel capacity, that helps restaurants here like Crabby Bills, it also helps people who do things like charter fishing, helps retailers, it really helps across the board,” informed Governor DeSantis, adding that the funding “builds on the commitment that we’ve made to this area’s wastewater improvements through the Department of Environmental Protection.”
The Governor made the announcement at a press conference at Crabby Bill’s with the Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle (R) and Jamal Sowell, the Secretary of Commerce for Enterprise Florida.
Earlier this week, the Governor also stopped in Winter Haven, Florida, announcing that more than $9 million would be disbursed for road improvement projects in Winter Haven’s Railroad Warehouse District.
Speaking on the money provided for St. Pete, Eagle commented that St. Pete “can finally complete those wastewater projects and open up this area for growth, which is going to be phenomenal for job creation, which is our goal here today.”
