Florida’s backroom budget fell into place Friday.Six weeks overdue and precariously close to the July 1 start of a new fiscal year, the budget came together almost entirely behind closed doors with most key decisions in the hands of a select few Republican lawmakers.Rarely in Florida have so few spent so much — in this case, $115.1 billion.There was no input from most legislators, let alone the people. The extraordinary secrecy keeps the building of a budget deliberately mysterious, when it should not be. It’s our money, after all.Mike Stocker/Sun SentinelSteve Bousquet, Sun Sentinel columnist.

But while the people of Florida were largely shut out, you can plainly see the handiwork of lobbyists and special interests in ways large and small. As usual, big business is a big winner.A new aviation fuel tax exemption will benefit major airlines. Charter schools will get a windfall of state money. Tickets to a NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway will be tax-free.

In every state budget, a closely watched number is the increase in per-pupil spending in public schools.For next year, it will be less than 2%, or $143 per student, but that’s only part of the story.School spending is fortified by 5% more in property taxes from counties in a funding program known as required local effort.Homeowners and businesses will contribute $13.7 billion to schools next year, an increase of $674 million. The state’s share will be $15.9 billion, an increase of $271 million.

Here’s why this matters. Even as Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers talk boldly about ending or drastically reducing property taxes, they are among the state’s biggest biggest property-tax spenders.So, as always, watch what they do, not what they say, because they are talking out of both sides of their mouths.DeSantis is not going to like this budget, and he’s the one person who can and will change it.He wanted a special four-month sales tax holiday to encourage purchases of guns and ammunition, but didn’t get it.He wanted to expand the Hope Florida program that’s under investigation; that died, too. He wanted a property tax rebate for homeowners. No luck.

But by the stroke of his veto pen, DeSantis can wipe out money anywhere he wants and punish any legislator he doesn’t like. Knowing this governor’s well-earned vengeful reputation, it’s easy to forecast some line-item vetoes.For example, the budget has several worthy projects in Dania Beach and Hollywood in the district of Rep. Hillary Cassel. She’s the former Democrat who switched parties and became a Republican last December.The budget on its way to DeSantis’ desk has $835,000 in drainage improvements and $175,000 to replace a water main in Dania Beach, and several infrastructure projects in Hollywood, too.That was part of a broader DeSantis attack against the House for kowtowing to liberal trial lawyers.

DeSantis has been in a months-long feud with House Speaker Daniel Perez of Miami, so anything that has Perez’s fingerprints on it is in serious trouble. But no lawmaker should rush to take credit for hometown projects that may not survive a veto.Any principled senator or House member can find a dozen reasons to vote against this secretly hatched spending plan. But if it were voted down, it could cause fiscal chaos, because without a budget in place, the state can’t spend money after midnight on June 30.Two legislative leaders, Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and their key staff members, oversaw reams of spending decisions while most lawmakers were back home in their districts, totally detached from it all.Every so often, the bleary-eyed budget chiefs, Sen. Ed Hooper of Palm Harbor and Rep. Lawrence McClure of Dover, appeared publicly for brief meetings in the state Capitol to ratify decisions that had already made in private.Those viewing at home needed detailed spreadsheets, some running 50 pages or more, to keep track of things.The budget deal now awaits an up-or-down vote by both houses of the Legislature late Monday, after a required 72-hour cooling-off period.Then, many lawmakers will go home and take credit for a budget they had almost nothing to do with creating.

Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at [email protected] or (850) 567-2240 and follow him on X @stevebousquet.