Funding Moffitt Center will kick-start economy

By anyone's reckoning, the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute is one of the top cancer hospitals in the country, and today it is on the verge of becoming a major player in health care on an international scale.

One of 41 comprehensive cancer centers nationally, it's a clean business offering high-paying jobs in a down economy. It is affiliated with six universities in Florida and collaborates with the state's major research institutes. It is working in partnership with hospitals and medical centers across the country as well as with private industry.

In short, Moffitt is a biotech magnet poised to transform Tampa Bay area's economy, but it needs the Legislature's help. Its campus on the University of South Florida is built out. It must expand if it is to continue to flourish.

Moffitt has a "shovel-ready," $372 million project, McKinley Research Park, close to USF that has one building near completion. But the hospital needs bondable revenue to resume building on the 30-acre campus.

Last year lawmakers allowed two-thirds of Moffitt's funding for construction to expire, leaving the cancer center with only $5 million that is bonded for construction.

Fortunately, bonding agencies look at Moffitt as a good risk. All the hospital needs is a portion of the estimated $1 billion in cigarette tax revenue that will be raised if the Legislature approves a $1 tobacco surcharge.

Unfortunately, the House is resisting the tax, and the Senate stripped $50 million earmarked for Moffitt from the original bill.

The current bill dedicates money to health care and would draw down federal matching dollars, but if lawmakers only consider it revenue enhancement, they will miss an opportunity to boost the economy.

In addition to the health impact, lawmakers should consider that between 2007 and 2011 Moffitt's total economic output will top $7.7 billion, including $178.6 million in direct tax revenues. The cancer center employs more than 3,800 people drawing an average salary of $75,000.

Moffitt CEO William S. Dalton says that with state funding he can begin new construction by September. He figures the McKinley Park project will employ 3,000 construction workers over the next three years and will bring 1,200 permanent high-tech, high-paying jobs to Tampa.

Plus, if lawmakers are going to raise a tax on tobacco products that cause cancer, it would be a shame not to devote a portion of the money to cancer treatment and research.

Moffitt is a health care and economic powerhouse. It can help kick-start our floundering economy - if lawmakers will cooperate.