At a media event in Jacksonville on Monday morning, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his $79.3 billion proposed budget.
With $29.8 billion in general revenue coming in, Scott’s “Florida First" budget proposal is higher than the current $78.4 billion budget and the $77 billion he proposed for the 2015-2016 year back in January.
Scott noted, on Friday, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.1 percent after more than 36,000 jobs were created in October.
“We’re on a roll,” Scott said but noted “unemployment sky rocketed” when then-Gov. Charlie Crist was at the helm. Scott called for diversifying the economy to ensure a similar downturn doesn’t happen again.
“We’re clearly headed in the right direction,” Scott said, pointing to tourism and the record high general revenue.
The centerpiece of Scott’s proposal is $1 billion in tax cuts. Florida’s manufacturing industry will reap a a majority of those cuts as he calls for ending both the manufacturing sales tax and the manufacturing income tax. Other tax cuts Scott proposed include lowering the commercial lease tax, extending the sales tax exemption on college textboooks and keeping the 10 day back-to-school sales tax holiday and the 9 day sales tax holiday for hurricane readiness.
Scott also called for creating the Florida Enterprise Fund which would provide $250 million to help Enterprise Florida lure companies to the Sunshine State. “If we don’t have the money to invest, we’re not going to win,” Scott said, insisting “we’re competing” with other states especially with Texas.
Scott also called for $20.2 billion for education, spending $7,221 per student, a record-high for Florida.
“We’re going to direct the money to schools that do the best job,” Scott said.
Scott’s proposal also would send $3.5 billion in funding for agriculture and the environment, $3 billion for the Department of Children and Families and $4.9 billion for public safety.
Scott’s budget calls for 864 less state employees as with 1,368 positions being eliminated and 504 new ones. The bulk of the losses will be in the Department of Health with 718 posts eliminated but most of those will come from the more than 1,400 vacant positions it currently has. Almost 475 of the new positions will be correctional officers.
Speaking before Scott, state Rep. Lake Ray, R-Jacksonville, made the case for expanding manufacturing in the Sunshine State.
“When we create one job in manufacturing, it’s like creating three jobs,” Ray said, noting most manufacturing jobs offered strong wages.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry also spoke before the governor, going to bat for Scott’s call for funding Enterprise Florida.
While Republicans control both chambers of the Legislature, Scott’s proposal could face some turbulence in the months to come. Earlier this year, after failing to reach an agreement, mostly over expanding Medicaid, the Legislature was forced into a special session to pass a final budget.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
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Mr. Franklin,