State lawmakers finalize a budget

30ashopper · #1 01-12-2009, 06:03 PM

No tax hikes, no major job cuts, road development and essential services spared big cuts, education and environment take a hit, and heavy dips into rainy day funds. All told it's down to 65 billion, which is less than in 2006.

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TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's hemorrhaging budget was all but patched up Sunday when legislative leaders agreed to cut enough spending and raid enough savings to leave at least $200 million in cash for the tough times ahead.
Nursing homes, some affordable-housing programs, hospitals, prisons and drug-treatment programs should be spared the deepest of cuts under the new agreement.

Legislators gutted environmental programs but barely touched road spending. They whacked nearly $480 million from schools but resolved two relatively small spending issues for Miami-Dade County schools after hours of secret negotiations.

''Dade issues, like in most sessions, overshadow about everything we do,'' said Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander. He had to negotiate the budget with two House counterparts from Miami, David Rivera and Marcelo Llorente. All are Republicans.

Overall, the budget should shrink by $1.2 billion, or 2 percent. It now weighs in at what lawmakers say is a lean $65 billion. It's worth less than the 2006 budget.

The House and Senate also call for a $1.6 billion transfer from trust funds and special savings accounts.

The Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund for poor children and seniors could take it on the chin, losing $700 million. But the budget plan doesn't touch the Chiles endowment until June 15. By then, legislators hope, the state might receive federal stimulus money to help preserve the fund.

The Sunday agreement sets the stage for a Wednesday budget vote as well as an early end to the two-week extra lawmaking session. Democrats will likely vote against the budget en masse.

The budget-cutting session gave a glimpse into the styles and personalities of new House Speaker Ray Sansom of Destin and Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach, both Republicans.

Where Atwater publicly discussed the budget cuts and his concerns, Sansom said nothing publicly. He began the session by resigning his controversial job at a community college that he showered with public money last year while telling fellow lawmakers to avoid big hometown-spending projects.

Alexander pledged that this budget has virtually no sneaky ''proviso'' language that special interests often use to shift state spending in their favor. Alexander said the budget chiefs almost hid from lobbyists during their negotiations.

''I believe we did a yeoman's job making sure that special interests didn't get their stuff in,'' he said.

SHORT-TERM SOLUTION

Lawmakers of both parties acknowledged that this budget-cutting deal doesn't solve the state's long-term problems.

Depending on how the budget is accounted for, the plan likely frees up about $200 million -- $400 million in other scenarios -- in case the budget springs another leak. That's likely to happen. The special session was called to close a $2.3 billion deficit -- which has likely grown by $100 million more in a month's time.

The number of state jobs, meantime, will decline by 1 percent, or 1,432. Legislators say nearly all are vacant jobs. The handful of people facing layoffs could still keep their jobs, depending on how state agencies manage money.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who pledged no layoffs and said little during the session, expressed concern about the depth of the cuts. He had wanted legislators to use more savings, borrow money and ratify a gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe that could inject $137 million in new money into the state's coffers.

SWGB · #2 01-12-2009, 10:33 PM

Oh good, children who can't read or don't have insurance will have a smooth ride on a brand new school bus to a classroom of 50. Way to keep the priorities Florida.

TooFarTampa · #3 01-12-2009, 10:38 PM

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Originally Posted by sowalgayboi

Oh good, children who can't read or don't have insurance will have a smooth ride on a brand new school bus to a classroom of 50. Way to keep the priorities Florida.

huh? It's my understanding that the schools are doing a good job following the class size amendment, which frankly is tough to execute in this economic climate. Tough, but worth it. Kindergarten classes of 18 are pretty nice.

30ashopper · #4 01-12-2009, 10:45 PM

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Originally Posted by TooFarTampa

huh? It's my understanding that the schools are doing a good job following the class size amendment, which frankly is tough to execute in this economic climate. Tough, but worth it. Kindergarten classes of 18 are pretty nice.

Plus, this is a temporary budget change. Once good times come back we can go back to investing.. we just need to hunker down for a few years. How unreasonable is that?

TooFarTampa · #5 01-12-2009, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 30ashopper

Plus, this is a temporary budget change. Once good times come back we can go back to investing.. we just need to hunker down for a few years. How unreasonable is that?

I can't tell if you are a pessimist or an optimist.

SWGB · #6 01-12-2009, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TooFarTampa

huh? It's my understanding that the schools are doing a good job following the class size amendment, which frankly is tough to execute in this economic climate. Tough, but worth it. Kindergarten classes of 18 are pretty nice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 30ashopper

Plus, this is a temporary budget change. Once good times come back we can go back to investing.. we just need to hunker down for a few years. How unreasonable is that?

Why is education always optional and road work is mandatory? In my world education comes out first. Unless you want an entire generation of road sign "engineers".

30ashopper · #7 01-13-2009, 06:47 PM

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Originally Posted by TooFarTampa

I can't tell if you are a pessimist or an optimist.

Probably because I don't know either.

30ashopper · #8 01-13-2009, 07:02 PM

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Originally Posted by sowalgayboi

Why is education always optional and road work is mandatory? In my world education comes out first. Unless you want an entire generation of road sign "engineers".

Seems Mr. Crist has his concerns too. I think the road projects sort of have to go through don't they, you can't just up and stop repairing a highway for two years. (Or could you? not sure.)

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Concerning the education cuts, Crist told reporters Monday, "The reductions I recommended were less than what we're looking at, and I'm going to look closely at them, and, thank goodness, because of the Florida Constitution I have the opportunity to tweak some of these things.

"So we'll take a close look at it and make sure that our education for our students is not sacrificed."

The Constitution doesn't give the governor the power to rewrite legislation but does give him a line-item veto.

Asked whether his comment was a hint he might use that power, Crist spokeswoman Erin Isaac noted only that, "The governor is reviewing the budget closely."

The Legislature's budget package cuts $466 million in kindergarten-12th grade education, Senate staff said. Crist had proposed a K-12 cut of roughly $370 million.

Even before the budget takes effect, Hillsborough schools cut $26 million from its budget because of Crist's request last summer that state agencies trim expenses.

The district expected to cut an additional $29 million because of the Legislature's budget package, but administrators said Monday some of that may be plugged by reserves.

So far, administrators have frozen hiring, cut travel, eliminated bus routes and added class periods to teachers' schedules.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, is to meet with Crist today to talk about education funding.

traderx · #9 01-13-2009, 07:17 PM

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Originally Posted by 30ashopper

Seems Mr. Crist has his concerns too. I think the road projects sort of have to go through don't they, you can't just up and stop repairing a highway for two years. (Or could you? not sure.)

Sure you can. You never driven in New Jersey?