State has windfall, but cuts expected

By John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau Chief

April 28, 2005

TALLAHASSEE -- Twice in the past few months, Laura Northrup has rushed her 4-year-old to the emergency room because the girl couldn't breathe.

So the Deltona mom is angry and frustrated that state funding for hospitals is about to be slashed by more than $100 million -- cuts that could affect her child's care.

"If they have the money, it needs to go to the people who really need it in Florida," said Northrup, 35, who relies on Medicaid for the care her daughter Alia receives for cerebral palsy.

Millions of Floridians -- the sick, college students, homeowners, the elderly and the poor among them -- will feel the pain of funding cuts or higher fees and taxes under the state budget that lawmakers are wrapping up in Tallahassee.

The Legislature is reining in spending on health, social services and education, despite a $5 billion windfall that has pumped up this year's $63.5 billion plan.

The lawmakers' decisions are certain to ripple through Central Florida.

Because of the $100 million-plus in Medicaid cuts, for example, Orlando Regional Medical Center will lose $7 million, which officials fear could affect services and staffing.

Across town, at the University of Central Florida, some students are angry about the looming 5 percent tuition increase scheduled to be included in the budget deal that legislators are expected to approve before the session's scheduled finish next week.

In a year of plenty, some wonder why tuition has to go up at all.

UCF student Sean Lavin said he hears lawmakers gripe that students don't get degrees quickly enough. But, he says, tuition increases have forced him to get a part-time job and cut down on the number of classes he takes.

"They're trying to suck as much money as they can out of us, and then expect us to take all these courses," said the 20-year-old business-management junior. "They're trying to have their cake and eat it, too."

The budget this year, however, isn't all about cuts.

The spending plan contains a $1.4 billion boost for public schools and $1.5 billion to build roads and for other growth needs. It also has nearly $250 million in tax cuts for back-to-school shoppers, wealthier Floridians and corporations.

After several lean years sparked by the tourist slump that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks, budget decisions this spring have been smoothed by the vast supply of new cash.

Along with the additional spending, lawmakers plan to tuck $1.2 billion into reserves to blunt what state analysts say is a looming deficit three years away -- a dark cloud causing some lawmakers to call for spending restraints this year.

"I think it's our job to make sure we spend prudently to the best of our ability," said House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City. "Putting some of the money into savings for the long-term health of this state is prudent."

But some of those on the short end of spending decisions are bitter.

"Unlike other years, they can't say they don't have enough money for us," said Brandon Nelson, 17, of Kissimmee, a senior at Gateway High School who is active in Florida's once-vaunted anti-smoking program aimed at young people.

Although new studies show that smoking among teens is no longer in decline in Florida and nationwide, lawmakers are expected to spend no more than $2 million on the state's tobacco-prevention program, slashed from a high of $70 million in 1998.

Other budget losers include:

Nursing homes: Along with facing Medicaid payment cuts similar to those hitting hospitals, nursing-home residents have been stripped of state-subsidized staffing increases OK'd in 2001 but now postponed for the third straight year. The delay saves the state $68 million, but some say it undermines care for some of Florida's frailest patients.

Pre-kindergarten parents: Florida's new pre-K program, approved by 59 percent of voters in 2002, begins in August and looks likely to be funded at a rate of $2,500 per child. Advocates say that is at least $500 less than what is needed for a quality program that will attract enough providers to serve an expected 150,000 4-year-olds.

Homeowners: Landmark growth-management legislation is hinged on a drive to make counties tap more than $4 billion in unused taxes to finance local construction. There is expected to be tremendous pressure in sprawling Central Florida to raise gas, property and other taxes.

*** A report from "Ax the Tax" ***
"It seems that property taxpayers are being asked to pay a disproportionate share of the load in Florida," said Doug Guetzloe, an anti-tax crusader whose group, Ax the Tax, has opposed nearly every tax referendum in Central Florida in recent years."

"It's obvious government doesn't have a revenue problem. But it has a spending problem, and some real difficulty determining priorities," Guetzloe said."

But even as state coffers brim with new tax revenue, generated mostly by sales and real-estate-transaction taxes powered by a hard-driving housing market and tourism rebound, the state budget continues to rely more on property owners, critics say.

For example, lawmakers are planning to transfer the $90 million cost of running juvenile-detention centers to county governments, which some local officials say could force them to raise taxes.

Even the $1.2 billion earmarked for public schools relies almost as much on local property-tax dollars than on the tide of new cash, critics say.

About half of the new money for schools -- about $650 million -- stems from the portion of property taxes the state requires from school districts statewide.

Defeated by Republicans, who hold a 2-to-1 majority in the House, Democrats wanted to lower the property tax instead of earmarking about $300 million for cutting the intangibles tax on investments, in which the average individual taxpayer is a millionaire.

Gov. Jeb Bush and ruling Republicans, though, have made cutting the investment tax a priority.

"If we don't take money out of the state's pocket, it seems we take it out of the pockets of local property taxpayers," said Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. "We're a growing state, with real needs. If we have the money, we should be spending it on what we need."

David Damron of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. John Kennedy can be reached at 850-222-5564 or jkennedy@orlandosentinel.com.

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