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DeSantis Net Worth Up In First Year As Governor

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MyFlorida.com
The Florida Cabinet: Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried, Governor Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and CFO Jimmy Patronis. 2019 financial records show all but DeSantis have million dollar financial portfolios.

Gov. Ron DeSantis saw his net worth increase nearly 3 percent in his first year residing in the governor’s mansion.

DeSantis reported a net worth of $291,449 as of Dec. 31, 2019, up from $283,605 at the end of 2018, according to a new financial disclosure posted on the Florida Commission on Ethics website.

Meanwhile, all three members of the state Cabinet --- Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried --- retained million-dollar financial portfolios.

State officials faced a Wednesday deadline to file updated disclosure reports, which typically detail their finances as of the end of 2019. Late filers have until September before they face fines --- $25 a day, with a cap at $1,500.

The forms require disclosure of an estimated net worth, assets valued at more than $1,000, liabilities of more than $1,000 and information about income.

DeSantis’ report said his $130,000 state salary was his only income, while his assets included $97,770 in a government thrift savings plan, a type of retirement savings and investment plan, and $205,500 in a USAA Federal Savings bank account.

In 2018, DeSantis made $116,000 from his U.S. House seat, which he gave up in September of that year after his gubernatorial-primary victory. The state also paid DeSantis $15,297 in 2018 while he was governor-elect in the transition period.

Gone from DeSantis’ new report is a Ponte Vedra Beach home that he sold in March 2019 for $460,000, according to St. Johns County property records. That helped build the USAA Federal Savings Bank account, which had been at $41,532 in December 2018.

In the report he filed for 2018, DeSantis listed the value of the Ponte Vedra Beach home at $450,000 but also said $263,100 remained on its loan.

DeSantis also reduced his Sallie Mae student loan by $7,670 during 2019, with a remaining balance of $25,830 as of Dec. 31.

Patronis, elected to a full term in November 2018 as chief financial officer after being appointed to the post in 2017 by then-Gov. Rick Scott, reported his net worth fell from about $6.63 million in 2018 to $6.49 million last year.

A former state House member, Patronis’ family has long run a popular restaurant in Panama City Beach, which is part of a region that spent most of 2019 recovering from Hurricane Michael.

His stock in Patronis Brothers, Inc. fell from $2.58 million to $2.26 million, while interests in Patronis Brothers Partnership and Jimmy T. Patronis Family Ltd Partnership dropped a combined $29,069.

The Patronis Brothers Partnership paid him $17,899 last year, up from $13,138 a year earlier when he also drew $26,237 from Patronis Brothers Inc. He also didn’t list any direct income in 2019 from the-family-owned Capt. Anderson’s Restaurant, which provided him with $37,684 a year earlier. Patronis was also paid $126,749 from the state in 2019.

In his new report, Patronis listed the value of his Bay County home at $479,507, down from $489,601 a year earlier, and a Tallahassee condominium at $37,116, up from $35,054.

He also listed ownership in five other Northwest Florida parcels with a combined value of just over $366,312, down from $367,864. Gone from his property portfolio are a trio of vacant lots in Lynn Haven that had been appraised at $235,875 in 2018.

Moody, a former Hillsborough County circuit judge whose husband is a federal law-enforcement agent, reported her net worth grew from $2.99 million to $3.23 million as of the end of 2019.

Moody bought a house valued at $465,595 in Tallahassee while retaining a home in Tampa valued at $360,000.

Moody, who listed her 2019 state income at $120,179, also had stakes in the Young & Moody Building in Plant City, a lot and a townhome in Gainesville, a Tampa condo, a Longboat Key condo, two condos in Treasure Island, land in Plant City and two parcels in North Carolina.

Among other assets, Moody listed a 10.51 percent stake in Moody Investment Limited Partnership worth $587,326, and 10 percent interest in Artzibushev-University One Limited Partnership, a real-estate brokerage firm, worth $720,311.

Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, reported her net worth going up from $1.4 million as of June 2019 to nearly $1.45 million as of Dec. 31.

The portfolio is bolstered by a Tallahassee home she purchased in 2018 with her fiancé Jake Bergmann, the former CEO of medical marijuana firm Surterra, that increased in value from $701,000 to $719,500.

Fried also reported a salary of $128,972 is 2019 as agriculture commissioner, $214,685 in cash and a health savings account, $169,282 in retirement accounts and $190,260 in a Ignite holdings, LLC., which manages Tempe, Ariz. -based Harvest Health & Recreation, a multi-state cannabis operator.

Among financial liabilities, Fried listed $26,329 on a car loan and $73,585 on a student loan --- down $2,513 from the previous report.

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