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Crist Vetoes $365 Million In State Spending Cuts

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

cdolinski@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - Tourism, teachers and the disabled will benefit from Gov. Charlie Crist's decision on Tuesday to preserve nearly $365 million in state spending that lawmakers had proposed cutting this month.

The Legislature had sent Crist a $2.6 billion package of spending cuts, fund transfers and fee increases to stave off a looming deficit due to plunging tax collections. Lawmakers and Crist are trying to plug a budget hole for the fiscal year ending June 30.

Tuesday, Crist approved the majority of the $1.2 billion in spending reductions that lawmakers had requested. But as he outlined a three-page list of vetoes, the governor said that "reducing these programs and services, I believe, would have negatively impacted the people of our state."

The vetoes include cuts to:

•the Florida Forever land conservation program ($250 million in bonding authority, plus about $5 million for debt service)

•tourism promotion and economic development ($22 million)

•probation officers ($16.2 million, to prevent 118 layoffs)

•bonuses for nationally certified teachers ($10.5 million)

•renewable energy research ($2.1 million)

•Florida School For the Deaf and the Blind ($820,732)

•anti-abortion "crisis counseling" and support for pregnant women ($574,728)

Absent from the list was $190 million that builders had asked Crist to restore for affordable housing. "With this $190 million sweep, Florida has lost a $1.3 billion economic stimulus and 13,000 jobs," Jay Carlson, president of the Florida Home Builders Association, wrote.

But another decision by Crist, restoring $13.75 million for care of the developmentally disabled, drew rave reviews from ARC of Florida director Deborah Linton. Lawmakers had proposed chopping reimbursement rates for those providers by 5 percent, on top of a 7 percent cut they received last spring.

AARP Florida director Lori Parham commended Crist for preserving nearly $2 million for community care of the elderly that helps them live at home rather than in institutions. "Attempting to save taxpayer dollars by reducing funding for critically important home- and community-based programs is like trying to cure diabetes with sugar pills," she wrote.

The approved cuts will not save the state from an expected shortfall of as much as $4 billion next fiscal year. Tuesday, House Speaker Ray Sansom issued a challenge for Crist to "provide his solutions on how to keep Florida's budget in balance in the face of declining revenues."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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