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State budget cuts look grim for county
By JAMES THORNER
© St. Petersburg Times, In approving its budget last month, Pasco County officials squirreled away $900,000 just in case the economy soured. Little did they know they might have to break into their stash so soon. For the news from the legislative budget cutters in Tallahassee is grim and grimmer. In a bill initially proposed by the state House of Representatives, Pasco would have to make up $978,000 in state Medicaid cuts for nursing home care. Next year would bring a further cut of $1.3-million. The Senate's budget bill, which as of Monday afternoon was closer to prevailing, cuts $268,000 from nursing home care this year and $537,000 next year. "Both cost us money. It's a matter of how much," county budget director Mike Nurrenbrock said Monday. It's not as though nursing home residents will land on the street: The county must cover expenses no longer covered by the state. But propping up Medicaid will divert money the county was saving in the likelihood Pasco won't collect the full $17-million budgeted for sales tax collections. The Florida Association of Counties, which represents Pasco and its fellow 66 counties, opposes both versions of the budget cuts and is lobbying to reinstate the Medicaid money. "We're already in our fiscal year," association executive director Mary Kay Cariseo said. "We don't have an opportunity to raise revenue at this point. The only thing we can do is cut services." To complicate matters, the less onerous Senate budget plan comes with bad news: Its bill, but not the House's, lops $250,000 earmarked for construction of the CARES Senior Enrichment Center in Hudson. "We recognize their dire straits, but anything that can be done for the senior center we'd like," Pasco Commissioner Ann Hildebrand said. On Monday, state Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said the House was leaning toward passing the Senate's $800-million budget cutting plan as early as today. That would end the special two-week budget cutting session called by Gov. Jeb Bush. The House's acceptance surprised senators, who expected both chambers to meet in conference to negotiate a final budget deal. Fasano promised to lobby Bush to restore the senior center's $250,000. But if the governor declines, Fasano insists Pasco did well by the state budget this year. He cited the millions Pasco would receive for purchase of private utilities, dental clinics for seniors and antidrug education. "You don't want to oppose a whole budget for a $250,000 item," he said. "When you look at the whole picture, Pasco did very well." If the Senate bill prevails, the Pasco School System will lose an estimated $2.5-million. But educators counted themselves lucky: the proposed House cuts were about three times as large. Pasco superintendent John Long said the district could weather those cuts as long as the Legislature gives schools more flexibility in how it can spend money it already has. For example, the district has about $1.7-million in money for improving classroom technology that could be spent elsewhere if the state agreed. -- Times staff writer Kent Fischer contributed to this report.
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From today's Pasco Times |
