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Florida's windfall

State lawmakers should spend the unexpected $2.2-billion on growth management, improving education and providing health care.

Florida, which taxes and spends at one of the lowest rates in the nation, has just been handed $2.2-billion to disburse any way it wants. But lawmakers, having become so accustomed to shortchanging schools and roads and nursing homes, seem entirely too eager to leave bad enough alone.

Just listen to Rep. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, the House's chief budget writer: "The idea that we're going to go open up the state budget and start revisiting all of the decisions we made - I don't think that's a good idea."

Really? The new revenue estimates provide an extra $1.1-billion both for this year and next, and lawmakers should not take the money into account? Are nursing home residents and pre-kindergarten students not worth the trouble?

Fortunately, Gov. Jeb Bush and Senate President Tom Lee are suggesting ways the new money can have a lasting impact. Those who travel clogged roads or drop their children off at portable classrooms know all too well the results of the cheap approach. Lee says he is ready to do something about the state's $35-billion worth of unmet needs associated with its ill-managed development growth. Bush called for spending $1-billion this year on roads and other transportation projects as part of a broader growth management strategy.

House Speaker Allan Bense called for a thorough budgetary review, but he also couldn't stifle a familiar political reflex and suggested using some of the money for more tax cuts. If Bense's plan is to effectively take money that could be spent on health care for needy children and give it to couples who own more than $500,000 in stock and bond portfolios, there is something fundamentally wrong.

Despite billions in additional revenue because of a hot real estate market and hurricane recovery efforts, lawmakers in both chambers have pleaded poverty with remarkable regularity. They budgeted so little per student for the new pre-K program, $2,500, that many private and public schools say they can't afford to participate. They argued voters should change their minds on the constitutional amendment that calls for fewer students to be crammed into each classroom. They reneged on a deal that was supposed to bring better living conditions in nursing homes. They cited the need to tighten the state's belt to justify shortchanging any number of essential services, from roadbuilding to Medicaid.

As states begin to recover from some dramatic drops in tax revenue, Florida's economy appears to be outpacing the rest of the nation. While Indiana's new Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, is asking for a tax surcharge to balance his state's budget, Florida lawmakers have an unprecedented opportunity to make a significant investment toward managing growth, improving education and providing health care. Bush's transportation proposal is a good start, but to leave the rest of lawmakers' spending plans largely untouched or insist on more tax cuts would add cruelty to their list of budgetary offenses.

[Last modified April 14, 2005, 01:15:22]