State budget tops $101.5B
Bolstered by federal pandemic relief aid
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s budget will top $100 billion next year, thanks to $10.2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money that helped prevent cuts to Medicaid, state colleges and universities, issue bonuses to teachers and first responders and bolster infrastructure projects.
Lawmakers, though, only used $6.6 billion of the federal money that comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last month. Gov. Ron DeSantis has complained that Democrats in charge of Congress changed the formula for how state aid was allocated from earlier COVID19 relief bills, basing some of the money on a state’s unemployment rate, costing Florida $2 billion.
But GOP lawmakers in charge of the Legislature said they were being prudent by holding back $3.6 billion in reserve, since they didn’t know when the money would arrive.
“We’re doing a responsible budget,” Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, the Senate’s top budget writer, told reporters Monday night. “We have a lot of money that’s been left on the table to be able to plan for the future, knowing we have a lot of challenges potentially ahead of us.”
The spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 comes to more than $101.5 billion. It was formally sent to lawmakers at 12:06 p.m. Tuesday after House and Senate budget negotiators reached a final deal Monday night, triggering the 72-hour “cooling off ” period before lawmakers can vote on the measure and end the 60-day legislative session Friday as scheduled.
It includes $22.4 billion for K-12 schools, a $532 million
increase on the current year, amounting to $7,795 in per student funding, or a $38.71 hike. That includes $550 million to increase the salaries of teachers, a $50 million increase, and part of DeSantis’ push to get all teachers to a minimum salary of $47,500.
One area that did see a cut was in the Bright Futures Scholarship, where the $600 stipend for textbooks was eliminated for the top scholars who qualified, although those who qualify for 75% and 100% of paid tuition will continue to receive it.
DeSantis’ influence is evident throughout the budget, as lawmakers included $1,000 bonuses for teachers, principals and first responders, all part of his recommendations for how to spend the federal COVID19 aid money.
There’s also $2 billion to buffet the state transportation trust fund, which pays for road projects, and $1 billion to create a new emergency response fund, to help pay for relief efforts after a hurricane more quickly, rather than waiting for reimbursements from the federal government. A plan to issue grants to local governments to help respond to the effects of sea level rise will get $500 million. All were DeSantis suggestions.
Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, has stressed that the federal money is one-time funding that shouldn’t be used on recurring programs and instead should go towards infrastructure projects. That’s reflected in much of the other COVID-19 aid spending.
There’s $201.3 million for K-12 schools construction and maintenance projects; $191 million for construction and maintenance of buildings at state colleges and universities; $350 million for deferred maintenance at state buildings; $300 million for Florida Forever, a state land-buying conservation program; $100 million to help clean up Piney Point, the site of a leak of hazardous material in Sarasota; and $500 million to move houses on septic systems to sewer systems.
Simpson also pushed for the budget to start accounting for the effect of the increase in the minimum wage, passed by voters in 2020. The ballot measure increases the minimum wage to $10 starting on Oct. 1, then it will rise by $1 each year until hitting $15 in 2026, when it will be tied to inflation. Simpson called for low-paid state workers to be paid a minimum $13 per hour, which will help the state adjust for the increase in future years.
Lawmakers dropped earlier plans, made under revenue projections made before the COVID-19 aid was passed showing a $2.3 billion shortfall for next year, to cut Medicaid reimbursement rates by more than $250 million. Hospitals and other health care providers, such as nursing homes, cried foul at the plans but breathed a sigh of relief at avoiding the reductions in the final spending plan.
A plan pushed by House Democrats to extend Medicaid coverage to new moms got a boost from House Speaker Chris Sprowls, and was included in the budget, too. Florida currently only applies Medicaid coverage for new moms two months after birth, but will now extend it to a full 12 months after birth for those who qualify.