Despite big budget, Senate urges caution, scours 158 projects for review

Florida is flush with cash, but Senate leaders say they’re taking a “fiscally responsible” approach to the budget this year, intending to hold back plenty of reserves and review projects that receive recurring funds, asking them to justify the spending they receive.

“This is not a free-for-all,” Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican, told reporters Wednesday after the chamber’s floor session. “We’re not just going to spend every dollar that comes in. That’s not us, that’s not this Legislature.”

Florida’s revenues took a hit at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, but an influx of federal stimulus funds helped stem the tide. Supercharged inflation, which has hit gas and food prices hard, has hurt pocketbooks but has boosted the state’s coffers, which are largely dependent on sales taxes.

Although state economists believe the prolonged inflation will eventually lead residents to curtail spending on nonessential items, hurting the economy and state revenues, revenues haven’t dropped yet. Florida’s January revenue report, released Wednesday, showed the state received $4.18 billion in revenues, or nearly $750 million more than the estimate.

That leaves plenty of funds for the state’s needs, but Passidomo says she wants a cautious approach to spending, with “abundant” reserves.

The current year budget has about $17.4 billion in reserves, the most ever. Florida never had more than $4 billion in reserves before 2022, when they shot up to $10 billion, in line with the overall budget, which increased from $93.7 billion in 2021 to $110 billion in the current budget. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed budget is $114.7 billion, including $15 billion in reserves.

Passidomo said each area of the budget will have ample resources to meet vital state needs, including addressing waitlists for services in the Agency for Persons with Disabilities.

In addition, Senate budget chief Doug Broxson, a Gulf Breeze Republican, sent a memo to Senators in January saying he’d be reviewing 158 projects that receive recurring funding for possible cutbacks.

“As stewards of public funds, the Senate’s commitment is to sound fiscal management, transparency, and accountability, which requires us to thoroughly evaluate funding for all programs,” Broxson wrote. “In developing the Senate’s upcoming budget, all appropriations, whether recurring or not, will be considered based on their merits. Therefore, no entity should assume that state support will automatically continue.”

The projects received more than $160 million in the current year budget. They range from $9.67 million for the UF Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville to the $23,234 received by Jewish Community Services of South Florida for its Seymour Gelber Adult Day Care Program.

There’s also money for charities or nonprofits, including funding for Girl Scouts of America ($268,000), the Special Olympics (250,000), Big Brothers Big Sisters ($3 million) and Take Stock in Children ($6.1 million).

“Everybody that comes in and is asking for a project to be funded will say, ‘This is the greatest project that has ever come to the Legislature and if you fund this project you will save millions of dollars over time,’” Passidomo said. “And I buy into it and I’m really excited about it. Then they leave and the next person comes in. And we cannot and should not fund every project.”

Broxson laid out the Senate’s process for crafting the budget Wednesday, saying the chamber aims to have initial budgets discussed by the budget subcommittees during Week 3 of the Session (March 20-26). The full budget would be discussed and debated by the full Appropriations Committee the following week before getting a floor vote in Week 5.

Negotiations with the House on the final spending plan would follow. A budget must be in place by May 5, the scheduled end of the 60-day Regular Session.