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Annual Tax Watch Report finds over $100 million in budget turkeysReport includes more than a million for local projectsBy MELISSA BURNSED
Four local projects worth $1.34 million were labeled as turkeys in the report. They include funding for the Baker County Senior Center ($90,000), Bradford’s Senior Center ($500,000) and Nassau’s Senior Center ($500,000). Macclenny’s $250,000 Water Conservation funding, which is designated as part of the city’s ongoing utility expansion plans, was also included. Also included was $100,000 for the JaxHats Transition Program, which is a joint contracted venture of all five First Coast Counties. It provides a medical clinic and job educational skills to help meet the needs of teens and young adults with disabilities or special health care needs in Baker, Bradford, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns County. "The story here is that a $6 billion budget reduction, which will significantly affect many basic functions of state government, only reduced the prevalence of budget turkeys but did not stop them outright," explained Dominic M. Calabro, President & CEO of Florida TaxWatch, the non-partisan, non-profit research institute and government watchdog that publishes the annual report. "Although this year’s flock of budget turkeys is much smaller than last year’s, it will still shock most people that there are more than $100 million worth of budget turkeys in one of Florida’s most austere budgets since the great depression, that is in the context of a precipitous decline of $8 billion from 2 years ago," Calabro added. A budget turkey is an appropriation, usually a legislative member project that circumvents the legitimate budgeting process. By avoiding the time and transparency of the full budget process, these items were not subjected to the scrutiny needed to ensure efficiency, accountability, and proper prioritization when appropriating the taxpayer’s money. Under the comments section of the report, which explains why projects were included, the three local senior center projects were cited as being added in conference, circumventing the grants process or not requested by the relevant state agency or government. Taxwatch states the Macclenny project appears not to qualify under statutory criteria and has no identifiable plan. Some examples of other projects listed in the Florida TaxWatch Budget Turkey Report are $500,000 for repair of fish hatcheries around the state and $250,000 for an agricultural film collection. While many areas of the budget that are historically ripe with turkeys had few or none this year, other areas maintained, or exceeded, their recent levels. The budget for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) led the way with a number of local parks and recycling projects that bypassed the normal selection process. The City of Macclenny was among twenty-four local water projects that did not meet the recently loosened statutory criteria according to the list. There were also a number of projects that were not part of the Department of Transportation’s Work Program, which reflects a discouraging, and growing, recent trend. Calabro points out that the practice this year is "especially disappointing," given the unprecedented drop in state revenues. The same budget that funds these 133 projects worth $110.5 million cuts $332 million from K-12 education, or $131 (1.8%) per student; cuts payments to hospitals serving the poor by $250 million; and cuts nursing home payments by $164 million. Additionally, the budget increases fees-for services (such as court filing fees) by more than $200 while increasing tuition across the university system by six percent. And there were no pay raises for most state employees (except for a five percent increase for state troopers). This current flock of budget turkeys also emerges at a time when state revenue is coming up millions of dollars short of estimates, creating potential for future shortfalls in the current budget year. "While the millions of dollars saved by vetoing projects like these cannot be used to restore the funding of the core functions of state government at this time, these vetoes will help protect the state’s reserve funds and ensure that the people do not experience further reductions in services that would jeopardize their health, welfare, and safety, or suffer crippling tax increases in the near future," Calabro explained. "With respect to fiscal discipline over earmarks in the state budget, Governor Crist has demonstrated that he talks the talk and walks the walk of protecting taxpayers’ hard-earned money," Calabro added. In 2007, Governor Crist vetoed 68% of the 507 projects identified as budget turkeys in the 2007 Florida TaxWatch Budget Turkey Report. That represented 58% of the total value of the $267.3 million in budget turkeys. Past Governors have vetoed as many as 80% of Florida TaxWatch Budget Turkeys in past years’ budgets. The budget turkey label does not condemn a project’s worthiness, but instead focuses on the budget process, including instances where the legislature has not followed its own policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of taxpayer accountability and government efficiency. Of the $110.5 million in turkeys, $90.7 million are funded from Trust Funds while another $19.8 million are funded from General Revenue. In the report, Florida TaxWatch researchers point out that the $110.5million in turkeys could have been spent elsewhere by the Legislature to fund: • Teachers/Education. Every $1 million could provide one of the following: - 18 additional teachers (at an average salary and benefits of $55,000) - qualified Voluntary Pre-K teachers for 35 half-day classes - 100,000 hours of direct tutoring time - 2,000 computers - 18,000 new textbooks • Student Funding. $100 million could increase per student funding for K-12 by more than $38. • Restoring Budget Cuts in Childrens’ Program. $18 million could restore the budget cuts to • Back to School Sales Tax Holiday (7 days) - $23.4 million • Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday (7 days) - $12.3 million |
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