Mitch Perry
Rick Scott has a week to sign the just-passed $78.7 billion Florida budget, and he’s promising taxpayers that “I’m going to watch your money” as he reviews projects with his veto pen. The Legislature’s last-minute addition of $300 million in pet local projects (including for a USF medical facility moving to downtown Tampa) has caused outrage in some circles as an example of government not operating under the Sunshine, and no particular project has raised more ire than the $2 million allocated for the private, for-profit IMG Academy in Bradenton.
The acid test supposedly for any of these projects, is how much economic development they develop? In this case, IMG’s request to the Legislature for funding (originally $7.5 million) for a planned expansion of its campus is that it will add 2,642 jobs, which definitely sounds pretty significant.
There’s dispute about whether that is the case, however, as noted by PolitiFact‘s Joshua Gillin.
But does a private operation deserve that state money?
A year ago I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of hours on the Bradenton campus for a story for Creative Loafing’s annual summer issue. It’s an amazing facility, and has housed some of the best athletes in the country. It’s also super elite.
In addition to annual scholarships which range from $48,000 to $65,000, the facility also offers camps for its eight different sports in one-, three- and five-week durations (and longer in the case of basketball). The costs for the camps range from $1,500 to about $10,000, depending on the length of the program and whether the camper stays in an IMG resident hall. Campers can also take classes in IMG’s Athletic and Personal Development program — “APD” for short — for an extra fee.
So it ain’t hurting. And with so many other social programs on the line as is always a case with the government, well, let’s just say I eagerly await to see what makes it through Scott’s list of priorities when it comes to watching out for the people’s money.
In other news …
While the nation focuses on South Carolina and will they do something about their Confederate flag, we’ll kindly remind you that most days of the week you can drive by what supporters hail as the world’s largest Confederate flag: at I-4 and I-75 in east Tampa. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor says she hates it, and wishes it would go away.
Castor made those comments at the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, where she appeared to tout federal funding for REACHUP programs in the county.
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They said they would do it, and now they’re doing it. Monday three environmental groups in Florida sued the Legislature for failing to fully implement Amendment 1, the measure that was supposed to guarantee a certain percentage of state funds would go into land acquisition, but it didn’t turn out that way this spring.
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The ACLU has announced that it’s about to invest $80 million into creating a group focused on criminal sentencing reform in a few Southern states and one could be Florida.
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Rick Scott is promising to go to Connecticut next to recruit businesses upset about a new tax increase on them, and with Enterprise Florida he’s cut a radio ad hyping up that possibility.
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Florida House Democrats denounce Florida Power & Light’s new “fracking fee.”
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And Rand Paul is now going after Jeb Bush with a pretty weird digital ad about Bush and bailouts.
