State divided over budget

Governor says ‘we have the money,’ legislators unsure

TALLAHASSEE – In the early stages of piecing together Florida’s budget, Gov. Rick Scott, the House and the Senate are all pushing competing priorities – and they all have alternative math to back up their claims.

Projections from state economists show a $7.5 million surplus, leaving little wiggle room for writing the budget. Scott, though, insists his tax cuts can be done without cutting education or health care, areas that make up twothirds of Florida’s current $82 billion spending plan.

“We have the money,” Scott said after his address to a Florida Realtors conference in Orlando on Thursday.

House Speaker Richard Corcoran, RL and O’Lakes, says cuts will have to be made to get to Scott’s $618 million taxcut goal.

“To the extent that we do the tax cuts that the governor wants, there’s going to have to be cuts in the budget, and we’re

more than willing to work both of those out,” Corcoran said.

At the same time, Senate leaders are looking for budget cuts to pay for big-ticket spending items. Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, wants to improve state colleges and buy land to help clean up the environment. Both plans come with hundreds of millions in spending, which could cramp Scott’s taxcut efforts.

Scott is scheduled to release his full budget recommendations on Tuesday in Tallahassee. What lawmakers ultimately come up with will have a big impact on homeowners, businesses, students, health care programs and the environment.

Republican lawmakers have consistently pared back Scott’s proposed tax cuts over the years, but he and his aides believe there’s plenty of discretionary money this year to cover his proposal, since the economists’ estimates rely on assumptions that lawmakers will continue to boost pre-K-12 schools and health care funding as they have in the past three years.

But some legislative leaders say that increased needs – more students and more Medicaid recipients – won’t leave much room for lower taxes. Scott wants to cut the business income tax, the tax companies pay on commercial rent and eliminate the sales tax on college textbooks for one year.

Senate budget chief Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, applauded Scott’s proposals but warned that Florida’s spending levels in areas such as mental health trail much of the nation.

“We also have to provide for the needs of our state,” said Latvala. “We’re 50th in mental health funding, we’re 49th in infrastructure, we’ve got a lot of challenges with our prisons and our state employees haven’t had a raise in nine years. So we have to put all that together and come up with the best solution.”

Negron also wants to boost higher education spending, including increasing spending on Bright Futures scholarships for college students. His plans to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee to store polluted water will be costly as well.

But Corcoran said he is intent on finding at least $1 billion in cuts and believes most of it can be done by eliminating local spending projects he considers wasteful.

“I feel confident that the House will be able to come up with $1 billion to $2 billion worth of cuts, and I think those cuts are in many cases, projects could be cut,” Corcoran said.

Latvala suggested the $1 billion goal was an arbitrary figure.

“I don’t get involved in trying to put big numbers on goals and trying to make statements, mostly for politics and press,” Latvala said. “I just do my job on a daily basis, put one foot in front of the next.”

The early tension between Latvala and Corcoran over spending is symbolic of the traditional outlooks of the Senate and House. The Senate has been more willing to spend money on large projects and make economic investments, while the House has pushed to cut spending on economic development projects.

Squabbling over health care spending between the chambers in 2015 led to gridlock that required a special session to fix. Now, more than a month away from the legislative session that begins March 7, fights are already brewing over tourism spending, environmental projects and how local projects are funded.

Corcoran is adamantly opposed to spending on economic development projects that use taxpayer funds to lure companies to Florida, something he deems “corporate welfare.” He’s also questioned the need to pay for Visit Florida, the state’s public-private tourism promotion group. The Senate is more supportive of the group’s $76 million budget request.

Corcoran also declared the House won’t use bonds to pay for large environmental spending projects, which could hinder Negron’s land purchasing plans.

Democrats would like to see increases in health care and education before Scott’s tax cuts, most of which would benefit businesses.

House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz of Tampa said she backs Corcoran’s fight against corporate incentives but bemoaned potential cuts to health care programs.

“There’s a disconnect between all of us (lawmakers) when it comes to coverage for working families,” Cruz said.