Citrus canker payout vetoed

Ongoing litigation tying state’s hands, governor claims

Broward County residents whose trees were cut down by the state over citrus canker fears won’t get the compensation they expected.

Gov. Rick Scott has vetoed a $20.9 million payout.

“Because of Gov. Scott’s irresponsible action, we will now return to courts in Broward, Lee, Palm Beach and Orange counties seeking special writs to force the Department of Agriculture to pay these judgments without further delay,” said Bobby Gilbert, lead counsel for the homeowners. “Although we may not be there yet, I see the promised land on the horizon.”

Scott spokesman McKinley Lewis said that the governor was sympathetic to the homeowners’ plight, but continuing litigation pre-

vented the state from paying the money.

“It is unfortunate what happened to these Floridians over a decade ago, and Gov. Scott sincerely understands their concern,” Lewis said. “We are hopeful that all litigation regarding this issue will be completely resolved very soon, allowing the issue to be addressed comprehensively across the state.”

This year’s budget approved by the Legislature included a $20.9 million payment to 58,000 Broward County residents, along with a $16.5 million payment to residents of Lee County.

Litigation is finished in Broward, Lee, Palm Beach and Orange counties, according to Gilbert. All appeals have been exhausted. But a class action suit in Miami-Dade County continues.

“The governor’s claim that this couldn’t be approved based on ongoing litigation is so far off the mark that it’s laughable,” Gilbert said. “The amounts in Broward, Palm Beach, Lee and Orange counties are finally and fully in effect by judgments that are, in the case of Broward, in effect for nine years. … It doesn’t matter what happens in Miami-Dade County. If we win and get $5,000 a tree, if we lose and get zero per tree, it will not affect the other counties one iota.”

Judgments in the four counties already completed have ranged from $90 per tree in Broward to more than $300 per tree in Orange.

Citrus canker, which is spread by wind and rain, discolors fruit and weakens trees.

The lawsuits stem from a 2000-06 campaign against the tree disease, during which the Florida Department of Agriculture sent tree-cutting crews onto private property to cut down any citrus tree within 1,900 feet of an infected one.

The program ultimately failed, as the active hurricane seasons of 2005 and 2006 spread the disease around the state. Homeowners accused the state of trespassing on their property and taking their trees without compensation.

Class action suits against the state took place in Broward, Palm Beach, Lee and Orange counties. The Department of Agriculture appealed and did not pay out any money. Interest accrued until payments of $58 million to homeowners in those four counties have now ballooned to more than $100 million.

Orange and Palm Beach County residents were not included in the Legislature’s $37.4 million appropriation. According to House Appropriations Chairman Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, there simply wasn’t enough funding in the budget to pay all the homeowners at once.

Palm Beach County homeowners whose trees were cut down stand to see $28.4 million, but like Broward residents, they’ll have to wait until next year to see if the payment not only gets into the state budget, but gets past the governor. In 2018, Scott will be in his final year in office.

The veto was part of $409 million in line-item vetoes Scott took out of the budget. He has excised more than that only twice — $461 million in 2015 and $615 million in 2011, though $300 million of the latter amount was from a single appropriation for a landbuying program.

This year, the money taken out by Scott will likely be reinserted into the budget in other areas during a special session this week.