Both houses pass trimmed-down budgets
By Michael C. Bender, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
October 6, 2007 TALLAHASSEE � Republicans in the Florida House and Senate on Friday pushed through a pruned state budget that provides less money for schools and higher fees for fertilizer companies, but few changes for road and bridge projects.

The competing plans, adjusted for a $1.1 billion revenue shortfall, included several pages of differences, but by 4 p.m. a conference committee had ironed out most of them. The House acquiesced to cutting Alzheimer’s disease research by only $1.5 million, while the Senate agreed to add $3.1 million to a program that would pay for health insurance for another 5,000 children.

Only two issues remain for Senate President Ken Pruitt of Port St. Lucie and House Speaker Marco Rubio of West Miami, both Republicans, to sort out Monday. The House wants to cut $500,000 that the Senate has designated for driver license handbooks, and the Senate wants to shift $600,000 intended for an emergency shelter in Brooksville from one trust fund to another.

Those discrepancies are expected to be negotiated in time to put a final budget on each lawmaker’s desk by Tuesday.

That would allow the legislature to take the final vote Friday, after the 72-hour waiting period required by law to vote on the budget.

Democrats, meanwhile, were mostly relegated to the sidelines. At one point, House Democrats voiced their objections to a mostly empty chamber.

“They didn’t want to listen to reality, they wanted to go to lunch,” said Rep. Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach. In the House, the budget cuts passed 67-35 on a party-line vote.

The Senate approved its reduced budget 26-11. Sens. Mandy Dawson of Fort Lauderdale and Gwen Margolis of Aventura were the only Democrats to join Republicans in supporting the cuts.

Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller of Cooper City said the proposed cuts to social services and education could have been avoided had Republicans been willing to consider undoing some of former Gov. Jeb Bush’s tax cuts or closing some sales tax exemptions.

“In addition to the spending, we have to look at the income component,” he said. “We need a good-faith examination of both sides of the budget.”

Sen. Al Lawson, D-Quincy, complained that $491 million in incentives for railroad companies and other “economic development” breaks remained in the budget while “the poorest of the poor” would be hurt.

House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber said cash from projects Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed in the spring could erase the $236 million reduction for public schools, community colleges and universities.

Republicans, however, preferred keeping that money in reserve and said spending it would be “fiscally irresponsible.” Even Republicans, though, agreed that they would prefer not to cut programs.

“I know there’s some things in here that you might not like. There’s some things in here I don’t like,” said budget Chairwoman Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Sarasota.

Other Republicans talked more about what was not cut.

“No road project will be delayed or taken off the five-year work program,” said Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. “There was no reduction for libraries.”

Lawmakers also approved several fee increases, including new charges for fertilizer and pesticide companies that could generate $1.6 million this year and $2.8 million next year.

Others said the net cut to public school operations - $138 million - amounted to less than 1 percent, leaving an increase of about 5 percent over the 2006-07 school years.

“You can say as many times as you want that it’s a cut,” said House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach. “Only in Tallahassee is a 5.2 percent increase in per-student spending considered a cut.”

Crist said he’s doesn’t anticipate having to veto any of the budget cuts lawmakers are proposing, including a $138 million cut for public schools, although he has previously said he did not want education funding to be slashed.

“I think it’s important to review what’s going on here. We had a budget that increases. We had to come back to decrease the increase some. So there really is no reduction, no cut.

“It’s just less of an increase,” Crist said.

Copyright � 2007, The Palm Beach Post