Governor Rick Scott signed the budget Monday morning in Tallahassee, the first budget he has signed at the Capitol, highlighting the $1.08 billion increase in K-12 education funding over last year’s budget. The $1 billion increase the Florida Education Finance Program represents a per student increase of over 6 percent and includes $480 million to increase teacher salaries. Scott vetoed a 3 percent university tuition increase, citing the need for affordable higher education. This tuition hike veto was among $368 million in state spending that Scott struck from the budget.
One budget veto bummer: the $50 million Coast-to-Coast Connector that would have linked 275 miles of bike trails from east-to-west coast. Scott claims that the project will can still be completed over time.
Scott’s overall transportation vetoes summed to a much higher tune: he nixed $291.9 million to add managed lanes on State Road 826 and I-75 in Miami-Dade; $154 million for Homestead Extension of the Turnpike; $236 million to add lanes on I-75 and $153 million for additional lanes and pavement rehabilitation in Pasco County.
In criminal justice, the Bay Area seems hardest hit by vetoes. Scott struck $150,000 out of the budget for the Pinellas Ee-offender Reentry Coalition; $120,000 for the Pasco Sheriff’s Office local probation program; $185,000 for Tampa Crossroads inmate reentry program; and $1 million for the Pasco County Drug initiative.
Various other local projects also went down by way of veto pen: $2 million for the Hernando County Broadband network; $1.8 million for Mossy Head Park Infrastructure in Walton County; and $1.2 million for the Urban League of Broward County. Another $500,000 was vetoed for the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center; and $1 million will no longer go toward Black Cultural Tourism Enhancement.
Citing duplicative services, Scott vetoed $1.8 million for displaced homemaker programs, saying divorced or widowed women can receive job-training services elsewhere; and citing alternative existing funding sources for low-income legal aid, Scott vetoed $1 million for the “Civil Legal Assistance Program.”
Regarding natural resources, Scott vetoed more than $25 million in local water projects, citing the need for statewide impact and return on investment for spending projects; $250,000 in stormwater improvements for West Miami; and $3 million for a wastewater treatment facility in Walton County.
These vetoes, and others, sum to the largest veto list Scott has had since taking office and is more than double as large as his hit list last year
Karen Cyphers contributed to this post.
