TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —  One of the top issues facing Florida this year is the return of the toxic algae blooms. 

• Fighting red tide could be expensive undertaking
• This year's bloom killed massive numbers of sea life
• Lawmakers and new governor say they want to do more to combat problem
• LINK: FWC statewide red tide status
• MORE: Previous red tide stories

With new leadership coming to Tallahassee, that would seemingly mean a new approach to the problem. 

But any plan — new or old, could be an expensive one. 

Florida's natural occurring red tide turned toxic this past year. 

According to the Ocean Conservatory, about once a year, when conditions are right, K. brevis "blooms" along Florida's coast. 

The Florida red tide can be found in bays and estuaries but not in freshwater systems such as lakes and rivers. Because K. brevis cannot tolerate low-salinity waters for very long, blooms usually remain in salty coastal waters. 

Throw in the human-made algae blooms caused by polluted outflows that start inland and that carries the problems of pollution and harmful algae to the coasts.

In the past year, red tide has killed massive numbers of sea life, including thousands of fish, hundreds of sea turtles and manatees and dozens of dolphins. 

The environmental havoc stretetched from the Atlantic to the Keys to the Panhandle. 

Incoming governor Ron DeSantis is now tasked with handling future blooms. 

"I will show the courage to lead," DeSantis said after his narrow victory against Andrew Gillum. "And we'll keep Florida great and we'll make it even greater." 

DeSantis, a Republican, campaigned on solving the toxic algae crisis. 

As he prepares to take office, he's pledging to leverage his close ties with the White House to speed up construction of a $1.5-billion reservoir, which could be a place to store all the polluted runoff. A project for the reservoir is far behind schedule. 

Still, lawmakers — both Republicans and Democrats — say a reservoir won't be enough. In Tallahassee, calls are mounting for the state to purchase more land south of Lake Okeechobee to contain additional polluted runoff. 

But the question remains just how much more does the state need to spend on this problem and how much can it afford to spend?

Additional funds could come from a state surplus provided by revenue streams like Amendment One, a collection of environmental funding approved by voters in 2014. 

It was designed to manage and restore natural systems and to enhance public access and recreational use of conservation lands.

"Those funds are there and they can't be robbed alongside other trust funds," said Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando. "My first priority is making we sure we protect all the money that already is allocated towards these environmental efforts, because we need that conservation there." 

Which means, while there is new leadership coming to Tallahasse and new ideas about address toxic algae blooms, the same big hurdle remains: money.