As his final term as Florida's governor winds down, Ron DeSantis has been trying to position himself as a diehard critic of wasteful government spending.

He's offered his on-again, off-again support for Amendment 3, a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that would sharply limit the ability of city and county governments to collect property tax revenues for critical services.

DeSantis and other amendment supporters have suggested Florida's 67 counties and hundreds of cities could make up for the loss of a projected $12 billion per year by simply tightening their belts.

Yet recent actions taken by a board of DeSantis appointees illustrate the hypocrisy of the once-and-maybe-future presidential candidate's words.

They also demonstrate how much magical thinking is required to believe a single policy change, no matter how sweeping, could root out all of the government spending taxpayers might find questionable.

Six-figure bonus and glowing performance review, despite heavy criticism

Last month, for example, Indian River State College's board of trustees approved a six-figure bonus for the school's president, Tim Moore, despite the fact that state officials have criticized the school's spending practices in each of the past two years.

The board gave Moore a $103,400 performance bonus, equal to one-fifth of his base salary, then also bumped his base salary another 3%, to $532,510.

Along with his annual $40,000 housing allowance and $20,000 car allowance, Moore is set to receive just under $700,000 in the 2026-2027 budget year.

That's nearly 10 times the median income for Florida households.

Moore's........

© USA TODAY