Gov. Charlie Crist's political mantra has been to hold down property insurance rates, taxes and almost anything else costly for people he wants voting for him next year. ...more

February 22, 2009

The state still faces a deficit of up to $700 million this fiscal year - and $5 billion next year - despite last month's budget-cutting session, the Senate's top budget chief said Monday. ...more

February 10, 2009

The state still faces a deficit of up to $700 million this fiscal year - and $5 billion next year _ despite last month's budget-cutting session, the Senate's top budget chief said today. On top of that, said JD Alexander, head of the Senate's Ways and Means committee, property taxes are expected to yield $1 billion less than the state needs just to maintain the status quo for K-12 public school funding. ...more

February 9, 2009

State lawmakers arrive at the Capitol today for a two-week special session to close a $2.3 billion gap in the state budget. ...more

January 5, 2009

Florida's revenue could plummet $1.5 billion lower than predicted a few months ago -- to $3.3 billion -- a conference of state economists suggested this morning. ...more

November 21, 2008

Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday that he plans to take at least $600 million from state reserves to plug part of the $1.5 billion budget hole expected this year. But he's not interested, he said, in bringing lawmakers back to the capital for a special session to prioritize cuts to state spending. ...more

August 20, 2008

Record plunges in state revenue are punching a $1.5 billion hole in the state budget this fiscal year, triggering emergency authority for Gov. Charlie Crist to dig into state reserves. ...more

August 16, 2008

Gov. Charlie Crist wants to 're-fire' the state's cooling economy by spending down state reserves and trust funds. ...more

September 13, 2007

Imagine trying to trim a billion dollars out of the budget. That might not seem like too much if you're talking about the federal budget, but it's Florida's budget, and that's a problem. So how do you do it? Obviously you start cutting. But what about spending money? That's what Gov. Charlie Crist wants to do, and we think he's on to something. Just about everything is on the table for proposed cuts, although Crist has said education would not be touched. He has, however, said that state reserves should be used to start major infrastructure construction projects such as roads and schools to invigorate the construction business. By doing this, he says, it will kick-start the state's economy. We're not sure how that would work on the state level, but there's no doubt that the flat housing market in Highlands County is having a massive negative effect on those of us living here. With no major manufacturing plant that employs a huge number of people here, construction and all of its offshoots drives this area's economy, along with citrus. ...more

September 9, 2007