TALLAHASSEE - The new $53.5-billion state budget contains no readily identifiable "turkeys," Florida TaxWatch said Tuesday.
It is the first time since 1991 that the budget has not been filled with millions of dollars of special projects for individual legislators, said Dominic Calabro, president of the group that conducts a yearly hunt for pork barrel spending.
But Calabro said he wants Gov. Jeb Bush to take a look at some college and university construction projects, including an $8.4-million community center for Hillsborough Community College in Plant City, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd's home.
The budget initially included less than $1-million for planning money for the center, but at the last minute construction money was added, Calabro noted.
Calabro said the center could not technically be called a "turkey" because it was requested by the college and not merely suggested by a legislator. But Democrats pounced on the project, and said the money should have been spent to build needed classroom space or hire 222 new teachers.
Calabro also expressed alarm over the use of $1.3-billion from trust funds and other sources that won't be available to meet recurring expenses in next year's budget. "It puts the state and its taxpayers in a hole for 2004." The absence of turkeys follows four years of record "turkey stuffing," Calabro said. During those four years, he said, lawmakers crammed the budget with turkeys ranging from $222-million in 2001 to last year's record $297-million. Each year Bush has vetoed millions of dollars in projects.
The credit for the lean budget goes largely to Senate President Jim King and Senate Appropriations Chairman Ken Pruitt for holding fast to a rule that banished member projects from the budget, Calabro said.
King issued a "no member projects rule" at the start of the 2003 session and insisted that the House eliminate similar projects. Their prolonged negotiations concluded during a 16-day special session called after lawmakers could not agree on the budget during their regular 60-day session.
Calabro also questioned some expenditures identified only as "legislative initiatives" in agency budgets. But he said he could not identify how the money will be spent.
Bush has not yet received the budget from lawmakers. Once he gets it, Bush has 15 days to sign or veto all or parts of it.
