Exuberant $112B budget will help many, but can Florida sustain it?
It’s an old Southern tradition: When you come into an unexpected sum of money — particularly government money — the socially acceptable thing to do is get drunk and spend like tomorrow is Judgment Day.
Now we’re not accusing members of the Florida Legislature of over-consumption. But they’re throwing cash around like people who have knocked back more than a few at a Capitol-adjacent watering hole — or people who are acutely aware that they will soon face voters’ election-day reckoning.
The total they’ve approved is intoxicating. Last week lawmakers had to work out a compromise between the House (which wanted to spend $105.3 billion) and the Senate (which initially proposed spending $108.6 billion). So they met.
But not in the middle.
Their final budget, due to be voted on Monday, clocks in at $112.1 billion. That’s … a lot. (Last year’s total was $101.5 million). The spending plan was fueled by a faster-than-expected economic recovery and a flush of federal COVID-relief cash that added at least $3.5 billion to the pot.
Some of the spending decisions were clearly cynical. Start with an absolute frenzy of seasonal tax breaks. Was it mere coincidence that lawmakers chose October for a monthlong 26.5-cent-agallon cut in the state’s gas tax ? Surely, it has nothing to do with the fact that statewide elections are set for November.
Some are arguing that this cut should extend over a longer time, since many low-income families are suffering from fast-rising gas prices. But other items in the massive — and somewhat random — bunch of tax cuts lawmakers agreed to in early March are harder to figure out. In addition to the familiar breaks on back-to-school clothes and supplies and hurricane-box items, lawmakers want “holidays” from taxes on a dizzying array of merchandise including tools, pool toys, energy-efficient refrigerators, garage doors, baby (but not adult) diapers, personal computers, Daytona 500 tickets and gun-club memberships.
We can’t imagine how those last two items got in there. Many of these breaks obviously fall into the nice-but-not-necessary category. It’s not hard to find better ways to spend this money.
And to give them credit, lawmakers did include many low- and middle-class working families in the largesse. They mandated dramatically improved funding for family members who rescue young relatives from abusive or neglectful homes, and committed some funding — but not nearly enough — toward reducing the 22,759-names-long waiting list for disabled Floridians who need intensive services and the 57,022 seniors waiting on community care.
They’re boosting annual per-student public school funding to $8,142, another record high. Add to that more than $200 million for after-school groups, summer camps and tutoring for K-12 students.
Lawmakers insisted on an across-theboard 5.3% raise in state salaries and specified bonuses for various categories of workers, including police, firefighters and EMTs. They also set a minimum wage of $15 an hour for all state employees, including the often-overlooked contract workers who fall under the “other personal services” category. They set the same bar for thousands of people who work for companies that contract with the state.
They also set aside $362.7 million for down-payment assistance and construction of more rental units. It’s the best Florida has ever done for affordable housing, and lawmakers deserve praise for that.
But it won’t be enough. Florida is facing some of the fastest-rising housing costs in the nation. Many state workers will need their raises — and then some — just to keep roofs over their heads.
Lawmakers should be asking themselves: What’s going to happen next year, when federal money starts to dwindle? Are they going to walk back the pay raises, take services away from needy Floridians or deflate public-school spending?
The answer to those questions should be an obvious no — which is why we wish lawmakers had curbed some of their more frivolous impulses and prioritized spending in the areas where it’s most needed.
Lawmakers may see the next round of budget-setting as more than a year — and one very important election cycle — away. But they should find a way to reassure Floridians that the most vulnerable residents won’t be the ones who suffer when the budget picture sobers up.