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Scott's budget plan
http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2011-02-07/story/rick-scotts-budget-plan-calls-deep-cuts
Rick Scott's budget plan calls for deep cuts
Public schools would stand to lose more than $3 billion in two years; State-run mental health facilities would be up for privatization.
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2011 Jacksonville Mayor's Race
The candidates
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Rick Scott proposed a sweeping, two-year budget plan Monday that would slash $7.1 billion in state spending - more than 10 percent - by making broad cuts to public education, benefits for state workers and the payroll.
Scott's plan also calls for the tax cuts he promised in the campaign, privatizes mental health facilities and realigns several government departments. And it would slash almost 8,700 positions from state government's payroll of nearly 127,000 - though Scott said about 2,000 of those jobs are already unfilled.
"The public expects us to get back to what the core functions of the state are, not things that would be nice but we don't have the money for," Scott said at a Tallahassee news conference. Scott first unveiled the budget during an early-afternoon tea party rally in Eustis.
The new governor said his budget would avoid "mission creep" and would deal with the dual effects of a lingering economic slowdown and the expiration of billions of dollars in federal stimulus money.
"There are no sweeteners for special interests or special people or special companies," Scott said. "It's a two-year budget that faces realities now."
Hardest hit in the first year of the two-year spending plan are public schools, from $22.5 billion to $19.1 billion. The per-student funding under the state's main formula for school spending would slide by $703.
Scott said the per-student funding could be offset to a bit less than $299 with money school districts will save in pension payments and a federal education fund - a one-time bump, despite Scott's criticism of using one-time money and his statement that, "We're not going to take federal money and believe it's going to be there forever."
The budget would slice nearly another $417 per student in the second year of the plan, taking the total reduction to almost $716.
But Scott brushed aside suggestions that he had broken a campaign promise not to whack school spending to pay for some of his tax cuts and other proposals - saying the reductions are the result of a loss of federal stimulus money, not state cuts.
"What I said throughout the campaign and what I said today is ... any money that came out of the state general revenue, we're not cutting that," Scott said. "Any money that relied on federal bailouts, that would be different."
Scott also plans to save $3 billion in Medicaid over the next two years by slashing payments to providers like hospitals and physicians and expanding the Medicaid reform pilot statewide. The federal government, though, has yet to approve an extension of the waiver that allowed that pilot in Duval and four other counties.
And the budget incorporates proposals Scott had already announced, including cutting the corporate-income tax from 5.5 percent to 3 percent and requiring state workers to contribute to their own pension plans and push new employees into a defined-contribution program, like a 401(k).
Republican leaders reacted relatively cautiously to the budget plan - which was posted to a Scott-themed website that quickly crashed.
"Today, Governor Scott provided the Legislature with a blueprint to balance the state budget without raising taxes. I commend the governor's fiscally conservative efforts to do more with less, all without raising taxes," Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said in a statement.
But Democrats slammed the proposal for the deep cuts it made, and Scott's contention that it would help boost private-sector job growth.
"The retreaded voodoo economics we heard today will not right this ship," said Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston. "But it will drill more holes in our already badly damaged public education. It will further eliminate the life rafts hundred of thousands of Floridians have had to turn to for basic survival because their jobs, their benefits and their homes have disappeared."
Scott is also revisiting a budget proposal that caused a bitter fight inside the Republican Party two years ago: A proposal to privatize state-run mental health facilities, including Northeast Florida State Hospital in Macclenny. A fight over that during the 2009 legislative session pitted several Republican members of the House against the chamber's leadership.
Scott's proposal differs from the 2009 idea, which was pointed only at Macclenny. That proposal was widely attributed to a fierce lobbying effort by The GEO Group, a Boca Raton-based privatization giant that has cultivated close ties with Republicans. But Scott would privatize all three remaining state-run facilities.
Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach, said Monday night that she still had many of the same concerns that caused her to fight the proposal last time. She said no detailed, objective studies have been done that would show the idea would save any money, and the last report from the Legislature's research arm was done before the most recent round of cuts to the facility's budget.
"If the end result, the goal is to try to save money," Adkins said, "then I think some bad numbers are being used."
Read Scott's proposed budget details below.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2011-02-07/story/rick-scotts-budget-plan-calls-deep-cuts#ixzz1DNZY9s4x
Re: Scott's budget plan
You know what would really help the Medicaid budget? If his companies quit defrauding Medicaid.
ETA: I just fail to understand why cutting the education budget is a good idea.... EVER. Our schools aren't bad enough already, so lets make them worse. Awesome idea.
Whose companies do you think are going to be doing the privitization of mental health facilities?
Completely agree, DP!
Corporate tax rate from 5.5% to 3%?!?!?! 5.5% is already one of the lowest state corporate tax rates in the nation. We have no state personal income tax, we can't afford to lower the corp tax rate too!! People won't move here even if there are jobs because our public schools suck so much.
We have been told that our pensions will be changing b/c of this bill.
I've heard he wants to cut pensions across the board. DH's pension is in danger of getting cut, so we started a small 401k for him just in case.
Its a vicious cycle.
I... I... I agree? With you?
Hell hath frozen over.
Here's a link to the 2010 state corporate income tax rates in case anyone is interested:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/230.htmlI have been teaching for 8 years now and I love the kids, my school, and I don't even mind the pay! I hate the red tape, FCAT, hate mongering against teachers, and all of the other major issues which have cropped up snce I recieved my Bachelor's and Master's. I am now seriously considering going back to school to get a Master's in Family Therapy (not even school counseling).....and with my kids' test scores I WOULD be eligible for the possible bonuses coming down the pipe.....but what about next year, and the next? I am not sure I can see myself doing this for the rest of my career, ALL because of the BS bureaucracy. I am not saying not to go into education, I am just speaking from experience!