A.G. Gancarski
When Gov. Rick Scott traveled Florida months back selling his final budget, one with “historic funding” for the environment and education, critics noted the election-year budget was a vast departure from his first in 2011.
Scott defended the budget, essentially asserting that prudent fiscal management ensured that spending could be boosted when times were good.
And a budget, of course, cleared — more or less without incident.
Flash forward: The Senate Appropriations chair in 2019 is the same as this year, Fleming Island Republican Rob Bradley.
Earlier this month, Bradley promised a “very, very conservative” budget, one guided by the fiscal impact and lessons of Hurricane Michael, which cut a swath of destruction through north Florida earlier this year.
On Tuesday in Green Cove Springs, Bradley elaborated on his position, which juxtaposes a concern over fiscal health with a reckoning with demographic pressures on the budget itself.
“The state is experiencing explosive growth … the equivalent of a new school district added to our responsibilities in a given budget year over the last several years … growth in Medicaid rolls,” Bradley said.
“So when you have a state that is experiencing the type of growth our state has experienced,” he added, “this is natural growth in the budget.”
There’s no plan to raise taxes, Bradley said, noting tax cuts in recent years.
“The Floridians I speak to don’t feel their state government is overburdening them with taxes. On the contrary, they appreciate that we are cutting their tax burden. I don’t see that changing,” Bradley said, noting that even more tax cuts may happen this year.
The growth of the budget is a “function of natural population growth,” Bradley said, rather than a philosophical change. The current $88.7 billion fiscal plan for 2018-19 is the largest in state history.
When asked what might be cut this year, Bradley spotlighted “health care costs, to make sure not only are we providing the necessary health care services to those who are entitled to receive them through certain programs, but that it’s done in the most efficient way possible.
“Certainly, if you look at the provider side of the ledger, there’s always room for efficiencies,” Bradley added.
“The people expect that when they trust us with their taxpayer dollars that we’re (spending) in an efficient manner,” Bradley said. “That requires always looking at our systems of expenditures to make sure they’re as efficient as possible … particularly in the health care space, if we’re spending the dollars as efficiently as possible.”
Bradley also advocated for continuing to maintain healthy reserve levels, saying they are “the reason we have a AAA bond rating.”
“Our reserves have led most reputable financial publications to consider us (among) the most fiscally responsible states in the union. When it comes to all the large states in the union, we’re considered the most fiscally responsible,” Bradley noted.
“That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens because we have low debt and ample reserves.
“Last year,” Bradley continued, “we had over $3 billion in reserves. That is sufficient to handle major events like Hurricane Michael, Hurricane Irma in the previous year, that enables us to respond quickly.”
“We don’t have to wait on the federal government … We can sort it out later with the federal government regarding reimbursements.”
That’s a good thing, given that multiple mayors at Tuesday’s Clay County Legislative Delegation meeting bemoaned FEMA slow-walking reimbursements in the wake of 2018’s Hurricane Irma.
Reserves, Bradley said, have allowed Florida to deal on storms on its shores, as well as other “unanticipated” fiscal impacts.
Long story short: There will be no appetite for big spending boosts this Legislative Session. House budget chair Travis Cummings, an Orange Park Republican, is similarly cautious with spending.
While state economists are optimistic in revenue trends, recent experience tells Florida’s budget chairs that caution must be and will be the guiding principle on their watch.
