Scott signs $77 billion budget, vetoes three Sarasota projects

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TALLAHASSEE

With his lightest veto touch since taking office, Gov. Rick Scott signed a new $77 billion state budget into law on Monday, while eliminating $69 million in state spending.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott. (AP archive)

Florida Gov. Rick Scott. (AP archive)

This year’s low-key budget signing — which didn’t include a public ceremony — contrasted with Scott’s first year in office, when he traveled to the GOP-stronghold of The Villages retirement community and announced the veto of $615 million in spending. “The special interests in Tallahassee probably aren’t happy to hear that well over a half a billion in spending has been lined out of the budget,” said Scott then.

On Monday, Scott offered a more muted message: “It is our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer funds and that is why I have vetoed special legislative projects totaling $68.9 million,” he said in his budget letter.

The budget vetoes fell below the $143 million he knocked out in 2012 and was less than one-fifth of last year’s $368 million in vetoes.

Rather than touting an aggressive use of his veto power, Scott played up the “strategic investments” in the new budget, which takes effect July 1, including more money for education, funding for the Everglades and child protection services. He cited the lack of a tuition increase. And he underlined the $500 million in tax cuts, including nearly $400 million in reduced motorist fees.

“These tax cuts will ensure that Floridians can keep more of their hard-earned money and pursue their dreams in our state,” Scott said.

The governor’s pivot on his budget message has a lot to do with his warmer relationship with legislative leaders as well as his bid for re-election this fall. Republican lawmakers gave Scott nearly everything he asked for in the election-year budget — and Scott seems to have reciprocated by using his line-item veto power judiciously.

Senate Budget Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said the $77 billion budget, the largest in state history, represents “a conservative spending, saving and investment strategy” that won bi-partisan support in the Senate. He cited the $3 billion in budget reserves as well as the $500 million in tax cuts as shared goals with the governor on the “responsible stewardship of limited taxpayer dollars.”

Although the majority of Democrats in the Legislature supported the budget, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant said the new budget was “packed with hundreds of millions in pork barrel spending and taxpayer giveaways.”

She cited per-student funding in the public school system as still lagging behind 2007 levels and noted the cut in Bright Futures scholarship funding. Tant also underscored the budget’s failure to expand Medicaid, denying health care access to “nearly 1 million Floridians.”

Despite the lack of vetoes, Scott’s budget decision drew praise from some conservative groups, including the Americans for Prosperity.

Chris Hudson, AFP’s state director, said his group applauded the budget based on the tax cuts, budget reserves, efficiencies in state government operations as well as Scott’s efforts to continue to reduce overall state debt.

“Gov. Scott has continued to fulfill the promises he made to Floridians when he was elected, by cutting taxes, trimming the fat in state government and working to push Florida’s economy to be the best in the nation,” Hudson said.

The largest projects vetoed by Scott was $3.25 million for a science center and laboratory at Stetson University and the same amount for a park in Broward County.

Other vetoes were spread across the state, including $2 million for the Miami SkyRise observation tower project, $123,000 for a dog park in Jacksonville and $1 million for land acquisition at Gasparilla Island State Park.

Scott vetoed three projects in Sarasota County: $250,000 for the Sarasota fairgrounds, $1 million for the Circus Arts Conservatory and $1.6 million in renovation money for the Hamilton student center at New College of Florida.

But Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, said she was “very, very pleased” by the governor’s overall decisions.

Florida TaxWatch, a government watchdog group aligned with Florida businesses, had called for $121 million in vetoes. The organization said Monday that Scott’s veto list included 23 of the projects on the group’s “turkey report,” representing $14 million in spending.

“TaxWatch provides the budget turkeys to the governor to ask that he determine the projects are valuable,” said Kurt Wenner, a TaxWatch vice president for research. “We hope that appropriations appearing in the turkey report that were not vetoed are ultimately in the best interest of the taxpayers who are required to pay for them.”

 

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Lloyd Dunkelberger

Lloyd Dunkelberger is the Htpolitics.com Capital Bureau Chief. He can be reached by email or call 850 556-3542. ""More Dunkelberger" Make sure to "Like" HT Politics on Facebook for all your breaking political news.
Last modified: June 3, 2014
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