Backers of individual items in Floridas budget did a better job this year of demonstratinghow their projects could economically help the state.
Gov. Rick Scott signed a budget Tuesday that increases education spending by $1 billion from last year, while slashing $142.7 million from individual legislators projects, less than a quarter of the total he axed a year ago.
Scott said lawmakers were able to explain the economic returns on their projects this year.
Were all not going to want to do the same projects, Scott told reporters after signing the budget Tuesday. I used my best efforts to say what is the best interest for all the taxpayers of the state and its not an easy task.
What you try to do with your money is just make the best decisions you can and you get a lot of feedback, Scott said.
Several items vetoed last year, including the $5 million for a world class rowing center in Sarasota, survived the budget-signing this time around.
Projects that failedranged from the Science and Discovery Center of Northwest Florida ($250,000) to the Frank Lloyd Wright House at Florida Southern College in Lakeland ($500,000) and a Bay of Pigs Museum in Miami ($500,000).
The hallmark of the $70 billion budget for Scott was education. He used the A-graded Cunningham Creek Elementary School in St. Johns County at noon Tuesday as the backdrop for signing the 2012-2013 budget.
Over the last year I have traveled the state to hear from Floridians what issues they care about most. Thats why this budget should be known as an education budget, Scott stated in a release issued after the ceremony.
The two issues that Floridians care most about are jobs and education, and the two go hand in hand since a good education is critical to getting a good job.
Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Scott said he has also asked state and community college leaders to cap tuition increases at 5 percent and reconsider funding programs that fail to produce a work force with marketable job skills.
Are we teaching things, having degrees, that people arent getting jobs? Scott said.
Tuition increases of up to 15 percent remain in the hands of the state Board of Governors.
The cuts made by Scott, not as deep as a year ago, are predominantly from the general revenue budgets, with about $44 million in funding that legislators had marked using trust-fund dollars.
Florida-based tea party activist Everett Wilkinson gave Scott a B on the budget.
He did (not) cut as much as I think most tea party members would like, but he did make an effort, Wilkinson stated in an email. Scott is still learning the ways of Tallahassee and is trying to navigate the massive amount of government departments and projects. I expect him to have a better handle next year when it comes to the budget.
Wilkinson credited Scott for cutting a number of parks and pet projects, including $1.2 million for a Lynx bus route between Orlando International Airport and Disney.
Go here for a full list of vetoes.
Meanwhile, the budget includes $33 million for the University of South Florida-Polytechnic campus in Lakeland -- a decision is due by the end of the week on a separate bill to speed the campus into an independent university -- and sets aside $1 billion for reserves. Money from general revenue items vetoed also goes into reserves.
The budget included $30 million for Everglades Restoration, down from the $40 million recommended by Scott but $13 million more than budgeted in the current year, and $8 million for Florida Forever. Scott had requested $15 million for Florida Forever.
Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, boasted of six projects he sponsored, ranging from $150,000 for the restoration of the Apollo School in Hobe Sound to $500,000 for construction of the New Elliott Museum on Hutchinson Island, on the Treasure Coast.
My budget priorities originated right here in our community," Negron stated in a release. "The Treasure Coast fared very well in our balanced budget that lives within our means."
Scott had called for legislators to significantly increase the Pre-K-12 funding when he proposed a $66.4 billion budget in December.
Education is the key to Floridas long-term prosperity, so we had to find a way to pass the critical increase in education funding in the budget, Scott stated in Tuesdays release. The increase in education funding, paired with my 2012 Job Creation and Economic Growth Agenda and auto insurance fraud reform, are all steps on the road to making Florida the greatest state in the nation to live, work and play.
Republican legislators were quick to praise Scotts support for the majority of the fiscal plan.
House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, said Scott thoughtfully reviewed the legislative budget.
The state budget signed into law today confronts an over $1 billion shortfall without raising taxes, provides for more than $2 billion in reserves to preserve our bond rating and increases education funding by more than $1 billion, Cannon stated in a release.
By holding the line on taxes in the face of a significant shortfall and taking the steps needed to preserve our bond rating, we are reaffirming our shared commitment to fostering a stable and reliable business climate ripe for private-sector job creation. The $1 billion increase in education funding takes this commitment one step further by ensuring that Florida remains home to a work force equipped with the education and skills needed to compete and lead in a global economy."
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, stated the budget delivered on the governors request for a $1 billion increase in education funding and making Florida a place where private-sector businesses can compete and create jobs.
Governor Scott and I both realize that the dollars in this budget belong to the states taxpayers, and we have a duty to ensure that every penny is spent in a fiscally responsible manner, Haridopolos stated. And by investing in education and jobs without raising taxes, the budget signed today benefits all of Floridians.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, said the "fiscally conservative budget holds the line on taxes.
This budget funds Floridas most important priorities while also recognizing the need to allow businesses to do what they do best when government gets out of the way: create jobs and opportunities for Floridians to find work, Grimsley stated in a release.
The Florida Democratic Party wasted little time in criticizing the budget as an assault on the middle class.
What the governor touts as an investment in education fails to restore the massive cuts made by Scott and the GOP-led Legislature last session, Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith stated in a release issued as the signing ceremony was still under way.
This budget is nothing more than the same shortsighted priorities of Florida Republicans that has put the special interests ahead of investing in education -- while schools are left crumbling around our children. That is no way to lead."
The $1 billion increase translates into a $150-per-student increase to $6,375 per student, about 2.4 percent from the current year.
Of the increase for education, $405 million goes to per-student funding, $47 million into enhanced reading programs, and $663 million covers the costs of new students.
State Rep. Charles Chestnut, D-Gainesville, the ranking minority member on the House Appropriations Committee, continued the assault on the middle class theme.
At a time when the Legislature could have focused more extensively on job creation, the Republican spending plan cuts more than 4,300 positions from state government and slashes funding for hospitals, nursing homes and universities, Chestnut stated in a release.
"The education portion of the budget is $2.1 billion less than what the Legislature put toward public schools only five years ago, and it fails to fully restore the massive cuts to our schools that the Republican leadership approved only a year ago.
"While some people say that the budget is crafted without new taxes, it raises tuition and relies upon mandatory contributions, or what I call a personal income tax, of 3 percent on teachers, firefighters, police officers and hundreds of thousands of other participants in the Florida Retirement System."
The Florida Education Association was also dissatisfied with the budget.
Rick Scott and legislative leaders will bombard you with happy talk about their commitment to public education, the union released in a statement. But they havent even begun to clean up the mess they made last year.
The union would prefer funding to return to the 2008 level, when spending was $7,143 per student.
Scott said the dip in education spending last year was the result of the end of the federal stimulus money for education.
Weve got 30,000 more students, we have more money for reading, more money for 'F' schools, were going to be giving them another hour of class a day, for our 100 lowest performing schools, Scott said while speaking on WOKV 690 AM in Jacksonville Tuesday morning.
Were also covering the fact that local property taxes have gone down and were covering that ... money that usually comes through local property taxes.
The vetoes are down from the $615 million slashed a year ago.
Scott said, prior to the ceremonial signing, that many of the backers of the 440 individual projects in the budget did a better job of showing the economic return on the investments.
If you look at how we do economic development, if we put up $1 million we expected to get a multiple of that back, Scott said. I expect the same with tax dollars.
Similar bill-signing ceremonies are planned for Wednesday at Tangelo Park Elementary School in Orlando and Rampello Downtown Partnership K-8 Magnet School in Tampa.
Among the items that avoided the veto pen this year was public television, which is slated for approximately $3.9 million spread among 13 stations around the state.
They came back to me and they showed me that there is a return for spending that money, Scott said.
Last year, Scott cut $4.8 million designated for Florida's public broadcasting stations.
Budget watchdog Florida TaxWatch called for Scott to cut 143 projects worth $150.6 million from the budget, ranging from the Brevard Community College Public Safety Institute to a land purchase next to the governors mansion and a Bay of Pigs Museum.
Dominic M. Calabro, TaxWatch president and CEO, noted that Scott vetoed 61 percent of the projects listed as "turkeys, totaling $63.1 million.
This $63.1 million includes 97 of the 159 turkeys in our report, and represents projects from across the state, and in every agency identified on our list, Calabro stated in a release.
We applaud the governor for vetoing a majority of the projects on the Florida TaxWatch turkey list, and working to protect the integrity of the budget process.
Also remaining in the budget will be the increased funding for Visit Florida, which next year will be heavily marketing the state as part of the upcoming 500th anniversary of European settlement.
Weve got to continue to market our state, Scott said.
With attention to Viva Florida, Visit Floridas budget is growing from $35 million to $54 million.
The $140 million for upgrades at Floridas seaports, to ensure the facilities are prepared for increased global trade from South America and the Far East that is expected with the widening of the Panama Canal, will also remain, Scott said.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
