Pinellas County commissioners voted Thursday night to cut about $1 million in funding for Creative Pinellas.
That's the county's designated arts agency that supports public arts projects and distributes grants to local artists.
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The 5-2 vote came after more than two hours of public comment, where more than 50 residents pleaded with county officials to preserve the funding.
Commissioners Rene Flowers and Dave Eggars voted against defunding the arts agency.
Ahead of the vote, Eggars expressed concern over the expediency of the decision to undercut the arts organization in the name of government efficiency.
"I just think we it's a little quick, a little knee-jerk, and the knee-jerk reaction is DOGE telling us how to run our lives down here," Eggars said.
The changes to the proposed budget, which aren't yet official, would completely defund Creative Pinellas. It would instead set aside around $500,000 for arts tourism grants to be directly overseen by the county.
