Gov. Rick Scott unveiled "Florida's first jobs budget" Monday, calling for more than $5 billion in spending cuts and pledging to return $2 billion to taxpayers.
Appearing before an enthusiastic, overflow crowd in excess of 2,000 at the First Baptist Church of Eustis, Scott took aim at public-sector jobs and publicly financed retirement funds.
Noting that 1.1 million Floridians remain out of work, Scott said, "Things will not improve until we figure out how to grow private-sector jobs and shrink the public sector."
"Government has to get back to its core functions -- and only its core functions. As long as 1.1 million Floridians are out of work, we cannot afford government that runs wild with spending taxation and frivolous lawsuits," he said.
To the disgust of a few hecklers in the crowd, Scott vowed to "constrain the growth of entitlement programs" and "streamline state agencies."
On Medicaid, Scott said "patient directed" Medicaid reforms will save $400 million over two years.
On prisons and juvenile offender programs, the governor outlined $500 million in savings over the same period.
While calling for billions of dollars in spending cuts, Scott's budget earmarks $800 million for economic development incentives.
Citing his experience as a health-care CEO, Scott pledged a "return on investment" to taxpayers and promised to rein in government's role.
Since taking office, Scott said he has combed through state government's sometimes-byzantine spending practices.
"I've spent a lot of time in the attic, and we're cleaning it out," he said.
And in a jab at Washington, Scott likened federal funds to the lottery.
"Florida has accepted one-time handouts from federal government, allowing state and local governments to spend way beyond their means," he said.
"There will be a lot of special interests who will decry these cuts," Scott acknowledged, "but we are doing this for the sake of our children and our grandchildren."
Reiterating budget items he revealed in the past two weeks, Scott said the state's corporate income tax rate would be reduced from 5.5 percent to 3 percent and phased out by 2018.
Earlier, Scott said he wants to reduce the state's work force by 5 percent this year and reform the state's pension plan.
He would require all 655,000 government workers enrolled in the Florida Retirement System to contribute 5 percent of their paychecks to the plan. That move would pull in an additional $1.3 billion.
Florida remains the only state that does not require its government employees to contribute toward their retirement.
To generate $2.8 billion in pension savings over two years, Scott proposed these additional reforms:
Require new employees to enroll in investment plans similar to private sector 401(k)s.
Close the lucrative Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) to new participants as of July 1, and reduce the annual service credit to 1.6 percent for most members (special risk class members, to 2 percent).
Eliminate the cost-of-living adjustment on retirement benefits for all service earned after July 1.Current retirees will be unaffected.
In a warm-up act before Scott mounted the stage, African-American singer Lloyd Marcus led the crowd in a boisterous falsetto chant declaring that the tea party movement has "Nothing to Do With Race."
A local tea party activist, Dr. Jack Cassell, spoke on the "Defeat of Obamacare," calling the health-care law "99.8 percent garbage."
Praising U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson's decision striking down the law. Cassell predicted that the U.S. Supreme Court would also rule it unconstitutional.
"Maybe we can use that to take down other bad legislation that has been passed in recent years," he said to loud cheers and applause.
Billie Tucker of the First Coast Tea Party called Monday's standing-room-only crowd in small-town Eustis a "big deal."
"It is no coincidence we are standing in a church," she said in introducing Scott and his austere budget proposal.
"We're going to support the deep cuts and get jobs back in Florida," Tucker said.
Though Gov. Scott's cost-cutting agenda played well during the fall campaign in rural Florida, and again in Lake County on Monday, he faces resistance in Tallahassee and the state's larger cities where unions, "progressives" and the media congregate.
As the editorial page editor of the St. Petersburg Times wrote acerbically on Sunday: Scott sees Florida as "just another hostile takeover."
Buttressing Scott's budget-cutting initiatives in Tallahassee, state Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, announced the formation of a legislative tea party caucus at the capitol.
One of the first lawmakers to support Scott over Bill McCollum during the GOP primary, Weinstein said the effort will be "a model for other state legislatures around the nation."
"We've talked to the governor about this, and he's fully on board," Weinstein said.
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Reach Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
