Florida may lose as much as $21 billion in federal funds over the next decade as a result of the largest undercount in state history during the 2020 census.
The state also lost the opportunity to gain as many as two congressional seats.
The findings are part of a new report by Florida TaxWatch.
With an undercount of roughly 750,000, or three and a half percent, Florida’s undercount on the 2020 census was the worst in state history.
“Two or three or four or five percent of tens of billions of dollars is a lot of dough,” SAID Florida TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro.
Florida TaxWatch predicts it will be 11 to 21 billion dollars of lost dough over the next decade.
Calabro said factors like inflation and a ballooning population exacerbate the lost dollars, particularly in a city like Jacksonville.
“They’ll have tens of thousands of people in Jacksonville that they’re not getting money to finance and support for the infrastructure, for the seaport, the airport, the spaceport,” said Calabro.
The federal dollars impact 320 federal programs spanning infrastructure, education, housing and healthcare.
Florida could be shortchanged $612 million in Medicaid funding next year alone.
“I am livid right now,” said State Representative Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville).
Nixon is concerned Black communities like hers and other minority populations stand to lose the most.
“We are already hard hit and lack access to quality affordable healthcare,” said Nixon.
So, what’s the reasoning for the undercount?
Calabro said Florida could have done better on the state level to emphasize the importance of the census.
“Because we were a bit lackluster and not on top of that game, we’re shortchanged,” said Calabro.
But State Representative Sam Garrison (R-Orange Park) noted the census is a federal function.
“Ultimately, I mean, for all the talking that goes on, the bottom line is the federal government has to do better,” said Garrison.
Short of a substantial change in federal law, there’s not much that can be done to rectify the state’s undercount, but Calabro said TaxWatch is already looking ahead to 2030 to find ways to ensure Florida doesn’t come up short next time around.
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