Politics

State's $1.5-billion budget shortfall brings pain

Under orders, state agencies propose budget cuts of up to 10 percent.

By JENNIFER LIBERTO and ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writers
Published August 9, 2007

TALLAHASSEE -- Inmates could be released three months early, college financial aid could be slashed and county road projects could be halted under a list of proposed budget cuts to state agencies suggested late Wednesday afternoon.

State agencies were under orders to offer cuts of at least 4 percent and up to 10 percent because Florida's sagging economy and real estate market have left a $1.5-billion hole in the state budget.

Now the hard choices fall to the Legislature, which returns for a special session beginning Sept. 18.

"We're going to have to do our best so we don't inflict too much pain," said Sen. Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican.

Most agencies offered obvious and less painful options, such as not filling already vacant positions and cutting travel.

The Department of Management Services pitched selling one of the state's three planes, a King Air 300, for $1.5-million.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement put an entire program on the block, a $376,000 antidrug program known as DARE, saying a "large body of national research concludes that the program is ineffective."

But small trims don't yield nearly the kind of savings that are freed up when actual services and existing personnel are cut, several agency leaders noted.

"If you have to do it, you have to do it. But as we go deeper in, and get to that 10 percent, we cut services, and that's the way it is," said Bob Butterworth, head of Department and Children and Families.

"The problem with social services is, as the economy worsens, our caseload increases, because we're a safety net agency," Butterworth said.

DCF suggested cutting administration by 10 percent -- or $10.7-million -- as well as ending hotel stays for investigators, an additional $3.4-million.

To achieve the 10 percent, the agency also suggested reducing the amount given to caregivers for children taken from their parents from $253 a month per child to $130. DCF spokesman Al Zimmerman stressed that Butterworth is opposed to such a cut.

Ten percent was simply too much for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said Secretary Charles Bronson. In a letter to the governor and presiding officers of the House and Senate, he wrote:

"To get to that figure ($26-million) would mean making drastic cuts to food safety, fire-fighting capabilities, consumer protection and seriously hamper our ability to sell our Florida products which ultimately affects jobs, the state's sales tax collections and our overall economy."

Instead, Bronson called for $8.4-million in cuts over two years.

Inmates may go early

The Department of Corrections' top proposal for cutting its budget is to allow the least risky inmates, those already in work-release programs who are not escapees or sex offenders, to go on a kind of rigorous probation, where they have to be checked on six times a month.

"If they make a mistake and missed a check-in visit, they would be charged with escape and sent back to prison for a longer term," said DOC spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

Another proposed cut, which alone would yield the department's 10 percent goal of $220-million, is to allow non-sex offending inmates near the end of their sentences to get out three months early.

The Department of Transportation suggested cutting a county incentive grant program by $19-million, a bit more than half of the program's total funding, which would stop or delay current road projects under way to relieve traffic congestion.

Fasano, chairman of Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations, said he will work against cuts for road construction and affordable housing, calling those areas "critical" to stimulating the economy.

Painful and painless

The Office of Attorney General suggests cutting $7.8-million for medical, dental and other care for crime victims who cannot get restitution from attackers. But the office warned of dire consequences.

"In establishing this program, the Legislature recognized a moral and social obligation to assist victims of crime," an attorney general's budget report states. "Reducing this amount of compensation would affect the citizens of Florida who have no other means of assistance."

The Department of Education suggested cutting per-student spending at public schools by as much as 10 percent, a $720- million hit. Other possible cuts include financial aid to private colleges and reducing funding for historically black private colleges by $1.2-million.

The Agency for Health Care Administration pitched as many painless cuts as it could find, like getting rid of vacant jobs and cutting inspections to new health care facilities that now are required to be inspected midway through construction.

The agency suggested reducing what it pays hospitals, nursing homes and other health care agencies for inpatient services.

The Department of Elder Affairs proposed slashing funding to the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute by as much as $10 million, which the Institute says could translate into the loss of 50 jobs and 12 clinical trials. 

Among other difficult possibilities lawmakers may face when dealing with the health care budget: dropping some people from the Medically Needy program, which provides medical care help for people who can't afford it but aren't poor enough for Medicaid.

That program has been the subject of intense debate in the Legislature in recent years, as lawmakers have sought to balance the budget and people in the program have protested.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FAST FACTS: Proposed savings

• $220-million: Release non-sex offenders three months early.
• $7.8-million: Cut medical care payments for crime victims.
• $19-million: Stop or delay county road projects.

[Last modified August 9, 2007, 15:32:32]