Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida State Guard Director Mark Thieme met with reporters Thursday morning in Bradford County. They were speaking from Starke at the Camp Blanding Joint Operations Training Center. According to DeSantis and Thieme, the Florida State Guard’s 60-day efforts and ten activations totaled 375 days of storm disaster response throughout 18 counties in 2024. According to Thieme, “Floridians would have died if we hadn’t been there.” According to Thieme, the FSG currently has 800 members, and another cohort is scheduled to graduate next week. “The Florida State Guard is a legacy, not just an organization,” Thieme continued. “A volunteer is the strongest thing there is.”
In 2022, DeSantis revived the FSG to assist the National Guard during emergency. Members were sent to western North Carolina for border operations and Hurricane Helene response, as well as to Texas for “Operation Lone Star” last year. In 2025, the FSG will also help with border security and immigration enforcement, according to DeSantis. According to Thieme, the group hopes to have 1,000 members by June 30 and 1,200 by the end of the year.
Eliminating the property tax?
During the news conference on Wednesday, DeSantis also discussed property taxes and the financial burden they are placing on Floridians. He stated that elderly people with fixed incomes now had to pay higher property taxes since their home’s value increased from $250,000 to $1.2 million. “These property taxes are pinching people’s pockets. It should be on the ballot in 2026, in my opinion, because people need respite from that. DeSantis stated that he “plans to work on it,” even though he hasn’t put out a specific amendment to do away with property taxes. He also cited Broward County, where, in spite of no appreciable population growth, the budget has grown by 82% in the last five years. He remarked, “It doesn’t make sense.” Additionally, the governor wants to do away with the company rent tax, which he claims unfairly affects small firms. “It’s a good thing to eliminate a whole tax,” DeSantis stated. “It won’t harm us because the state of Florida generates a lot of revenue.”