Staffers for seven state agencies presented $287.8 million in budget cuts Thursday to the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations, but some legislators were concerned that the cuts were falling on services rather than administrative costs.
Of particular concern was the Agency for Workforce Innovation, the state agency in charge of work force programs like unemployment compensation, which proposed nearly $102 million worth of cuts without eliminating any of its own workers. The vast majority of those cuts came from gutting AWIs Early Learning programs that provide prekindergarten education for the children of working or single parents.
Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, was leery of that type of budget adjustment.
Ive seen it with some of these agencies where they're willing to whack the kids at home but not their own workers, Bennett said.
Other senators noted the irony of a state agency dedicated to preserving employment throughout the state cutting contracted workers but not their own, and prodded AWI to cut some of its full-time employees and have greater accountability.
Of course (they should cut staff). Its inconceivable to me we cant get to the amount of jobs theyve actually created, said Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Aventura.
The agencies were told to develop their own recommendations for cutting 15 percent of their respective budgets by former Gov. Charlie Crist. Other agencies, like the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, took a different route to the cuts by eliminating positions, but senators had similar problems with where the cuts would fall.
The DHSMV suggested $52.5 million worth of cuts, eliminating 713 jobs in the process, 425 of which were Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers. Cutting those officers would save $31 million.
Im trying to figure out how in the world our governor will create 700,000 jobs when we're constantly cutting FTEs (full-time employees), Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, said, referring to Gov. Rick Scotts goal for creating 700,000 jobs in seven years.
But when Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, tried to remind Bullard of the drastic budget picture Florida faces, the meeting threatened to turn into farce.
If we keep cutting checks to all those people with government jobs, those checks won't clear at the bank. We can bemoan the fact that we need to make cuts but at the end of the day we still have to make cuts, Gaetz said.
Bullard wanted to interject at that point, but Gaetz moved along with the meeting.
That is so rude, Bullard said.
You know I felt you were very disrespectful of me a minute ago, she added later.
Gaetz and Bullard had tussled earlier in the meeting over a bill he is sponsoring that would provide $10 million in annually recurring funds for economic development and diversification of North Florida areas on the Gulf Coast affected by the BP oil spill that are dependent on the military and tourism for their economic strength. Bullard expressed concerns over the built-in annual costs of the bill, but Gaetz insisted they would have to be justified every year.
These funds would be used, Senator Bullard, for the economic development of our area. We're a two-trick pony right now. When someone in the Pentagon gets a cold, we get pneumonia. When the tourism industry is affected, we're down on our knees. If you think it's only a one-year recovery, then next year you can offer a budget amendment to strike it out, Gaetz said.
Bullard ended up voting for the bill, which passed unanimously through the committee.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
