Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
BRINGING HOME THE MONEY
S. Florida lawmakers secure $100 million for local projects
New roads, septic-to-sewer conversions, school construction and even a police drone program are all coming to South Florida as part of the proposed state budget.
About 125 projects, totaling more than $100 million, made it into the budget because of the efforts of lawmakers who represent some portion of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The largest of these projects, $11,857,125 for construction of pedestrian bridges over Florida’s Turnpike in Miami Gardens, was pushed for by state Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, and state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami.
Braynon, whose district includes part of southern Broward from U.S. 27 to Interstate 95, got more than $19 million in project requests into the budget. That was good for second place among all Broward and Palm Beach county lawmakers.
First place, with $20.6 million, went to state Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah. Like Braynon, his largely Dade-centric district includes a small portion of southern Broward in Miramar.
Most of that money is for two projects totaling $15 million, both of which benefit Florida International University.
“FIU is one of the important institutions of this district, not only in Miami-Dade but also because the Broward campus is
right near my district,” Diaz said.
University and college construction costs were the bulk of major projects in South Florida. State Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, ensured Broward College could get up to $3.5 million to remodel a building in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Other projects included: $400,000 for the Deerfield Beach African American Memorial Park.
$300,000 to the Palm Beach Zoo for a safety and preparedness program, which will be established after a deadly tiger attack on a zookeeper last year.
$728,378 to the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office for a drone program.
$1 million for a new coral reef monitoring program that will study disease on the swiftly dying patches of coral reef off the coast of Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties.
Costlier projects include $3 million for roadways in Lake Worth’s Park of Commerce and $3.6 million for the Bridge Road Town Center project in Hobe Sound, which will widen streets and add street parking.
This year, House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, changed the rules on how these projects get in the budget, requiring each project to be filed as a bill, just like any other proposed law. That also meant, for the first time, every project had to go through committee hearings, the usual process for any other bill.
“It’s completely different now. You have to be able to stand there and defend the project, understand the impact of it and make sure it falls within your personal principles as a member but also the needs of your community,” Diaz said.
Six projects in Broward and Palm Beach counties got more money than the sponsors requested. They include $10 million for an FIU engineering building, despite Diaz requesting just $3.5 million. Others included an extra $1 million in the Hobe Sound Bridge Road project and $150,000 for Fort Lauderdale’s HANDY Inc., an organization that provides services for abused and neglected children, $50,000 more than Farmer’s request.
The new process meant that there was money left over that, in the past, would have gone to projects that were unknown to the public until the very end of budget negotiations, Diaz said.
“You used to see last-minute projects get in the budget, but you couldn’t do that anymore,” Diaz said. “So there was opportunity to increase some amounts.”
Another project that got more money in the budget than requested was $500,000 for drainage improvements to Northeast 191st Street in Aventura. That request came from state Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, whose district covers the coastline from Port Everglades to Surfside, west to Federal Highway.
Of Geller’s 15 requests, 11 were at least partially funded, a better rate of success than any other local lawmaker.
When asked whether his success had simply been luck, he said, “I’d prefer to think of it as looks and charm.”
“I try to always support things that were not only reasonable projects but where the state support might make a difference,” he said. “Typically, projects where there was a match from local government or the private sector, but they might not go forward without the extra boost. I guess as a strategy it seems that was successful.”
Gov. Rick Scott has a line-item veto, meaning he can remove any single item in the budget without vetoing the entire thing.
Scott has not said yet what he might cut, nor has he received the budget for signing.