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PARING IT DOWN

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 15, 2009

The $2.6 billion package of state budget cuts and funding swaps that lawmakers approved on Wednesday includes the following:

•Cut: $466 million from K-12 education, including $366 million (2 percent or $140 per student) from daily public school operations and $11 million from a teacher bonus program.

•Cut: $3 million from prison substance abuse programs.

•Cut: $15 million from water protection by state and local governments and $5 million from habitat protection for endangered gopher tortoises.

•Canceled: $250 million bond issuance for the Florida Forever land conservation program. That saves $20.5 million in debt service in the next 12 months but zeroes out funding for the program for the remainder of 2008-09.

•Cut and restored: Nursing homes will be allowed to make back millions of dollars cut from their Medicaid reimbursements by assessing themselves a fee that the federal government will match. The assessment program is expected to make up for rate cuts dating as far back as January 2008.

•Cut: $517,000 from relief services for caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients and from memory disorder clinics and other Alzheimer's projects (4 percent).

•Cut: $1.875 million from a community care program for the elderly (4.4 percent).

•Cut: $3.75 million from the state's main cancer research grant programs (leaves about $13 million available).

•Cut: $6.4 million from adult mental health services (4 percent) and $1.4 million from children's mental health (2.8 percent).

•Cut: $184.3 million from colleges and universities (4 percent from those with enrolled students; 6 percent from most research institutions).

•Raised: ticket cost for traffic violations - $25 increases on tickets for going at least 15 mph over the speed limit, plus an additional $10 assessment on all noncriminal moving and nonmoving violations.

Catherine Dolinski

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