Lawmakers to face $6 billion budget deficit, impact from Gulf spill

By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

A $6 billion budget shortfall, no more federal stimulus money and the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on coastal communities will be major issues state legislators will have to face when they head back to Tallahassee in 2011.

At a luncheon Wednesday at the Kissimmee Civic Center sponsored by the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce, four of the seven state lawmakers that comprise the county’s delegation re-viewed the last legislative session’s accomplishments and looked ahead to the next session.

“We face a cliff next year,” state Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, said. “We will face a $6 billion budget deficit with no federal stimulus money. We also have a major crisis facing us in terms of the oil spill; we may have to have a special session.”

Soto said the state might have to consider some kind of tax relief for those affected by the oil spill, if the economic impact is large enough, which could add to the budget deficit.

State Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said state government this year started seeing a revenue increase due to what economists say is a slowly improving economy.

“Economists said they believe we have hit bottom,” Gardiner said. “We were seeing a turn and then there was the oil spill. We are trying to determine its long-term impact.”

Gardiner said crude oil coming ashore in Florida would “drastically change the economy in some areas of the state and that some residents – commercial fishermen, for example – may have to be provided job training for other lines of work.

Gardiner also said everyone in the state should keep an eye on Medicaid, which is a large chunk of any state’s budget.

“We’ve had an increase in the numbers of people on Medicaid because of the economy and, at the same time, all the states are trying to get out from under the cost of providing it,” Gardiner said, adding that what states do in terms of reform will have to mesh with the new federal health care reform.

Elected officials also pointed to accomplishments during the last legislative session that will benefit the state in general and Osceola County in particular.

State Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, mentioned the $23 million funding for a fourth building at the Valencia Community College-Osceola Campus; support for SunRail construction; funding for right of way acquisition for improvements to East U.S. Highway 192 between Aeronautical Drive and Budinger Avenue in St. Cloud; $7.9 million for the first phase of Hoagland Boulevard improvements in Kissimmee near the Kissimmee Gateway Airport; approval of an Osceola County Expressway Authority; and smaller cuts than other counties to workforce education funding for the Osceola County School District, mainly because the district in the past has not received its fair share.

“This year the big issue was the state budget and we passed a balanced budget with no new taxes and no new fees,” said Horner, who also is the president of the local Chamber of Commerce.

Soto mentioned other successes: Keeping intact the funding for the Osceola County Juvenile Justice Center; new funding to hire two retired judges to help the county court clear foreclosure cases; $250 million available for film and digital film industry financial incentives that will benefit filmmaking, especially in Central Florida; approval for municipal use cameras to catch red light runners, with some of the fines going to support trauma centers throughout the state; approval of a firefighter death benefit bill; and stiffer penalties for multiple convictions for streetracing.

In looking ahead, elected officials said they want to pursue more funding for local convention and visitor bureaus to help these agencies promote whatever an area might be known for, such as amateur sports or conventions, for example; and funding for the new state rail commission so that the agency would have money to appropriate for projects that would improve connectivity between transportation systems, such as between SunRail and high speed rail running from Orlando to Tampa.

Elected officials, however, did not comment on any legislation vetoed by the governor, including a controversial last-day bill requiring a woman to view an ultrasound before having an abortion; funding for a roadway at the Kissimmee airport that would have helped commercial development around the facility; and a bill that attempted to address teacher tenure and merit pay.

Gardiner sponsored the ultrasound bill, which also would have banned taxpayers’ funding of abortions. This year was the fourth time that bills requiring ultrasounds have been defeated.

Delegation members Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, and Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, did not attend. Rep. Stephen Precourt, R-Orlando, arrived late and only spoke briefly.

In an update flier that Dockery had distributed at the luncheon, she said she was forced to vote against the final budget during the last session due to its over-reliance on federal stimulus dollars and the lack of prioritizing critical needs.

“Though budget cuts were made, this budget actually rose from $66 billion last year to $70.4 billion this year. Though this would indicate Florida is doing well, this increase is actually due to overspending, exclusive member projects and more reliance on federal stimulus money,” Dockery stated.

Dockery stated in her flier that the latest state budget eliminates thousands of jobs, hurts nursing homes and hospitals and reduces services to the mentally disabled. She also stated she was disappointed that several bills she filed relating to ethics and trust in government had not made it to the Senate floor.

In closing the luncheon, local businessman Tom Franklin, Osceola Legislative Effort’s executive director and the moderator for Wednesday’s update, said, “We didn’t expect to bring home all that we wanted, but we did bring home five out of seven issues.”