DeSoto County to receive $7M to fund major infrastructure projects

Millions of dollars are going to be used to help small communities with their water infrastructure.

DeSoto County is among those receiving money that will serve as a boost to its infrastructure. It’s expected to be granted $7 million by the state of Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday that nearly $150 million would go toward Florida communities in need of more resilient infrastructure.

This will help fund two high-risk, high-cost projects that would have been nearly impossible to pay for at the local level in DeSoto County.

DeSoto was hit hard by Hurricane Irma in 2017, which is why they received the money.

The county will use it to replace its decaying drainage system and to repair a bridge on Kings Highway that serves as an evacuation route.

County administrator Mandy Hines told us the improvements to that drainage system will better protect people.

“The drainage project is in an area that’s in a low to moderate-income area,” Hines explained. “And failure of that major drainage system can cause localized flooding. So that’s a great mitigation project to make sure we don’t have residents that are flooded by a piece of failing infrastructure.”

Hines told us, between the two projects, construction will take between a year to 18 months to complete.