There is no question 2010 will be a tough budget year in Florida. Unfortunately, 2011 and 2012 look worse because we have no federal stimulus dollars to fall back on in those years.
All the talk at the Capitol is about “making the tough choices,” setting priorities, and cutting wasteful spending, and creating jobs. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. Sometimes it seems that few meaningful cuts are really made. It is more like a shell game where we simply take money from one pot (trust funds) and put it in another pot (general revenue). Essentially we are just kicking the can down the road. While small, the transportation portion of the stimulus was a life-saver, providing both jobs and much needed projects. Next year we don’t have that benefit.
Marion Hammer, former NRA President, gave excellent testimony in House Education and Economic Development Appropriations yesterday on trust funds. Fees collected for a specific purpose should be used for that purpose. When fees collected for a specific purpose are diverted to General Revenue and not used for their intended purpose they become a tax. I could not agree more with Ms. Hammer.
The bill under consideration in committee, HB 651, places the trust fund for license fees for concealed weapons into an existing statue protecting certain trust funds. It prohibits taking money from those funds for other than their intended purpose.
Guess what other trust fund is already in the law? You guessed it – the State Transportation Trust Fund. Funny how that works. The Legislature conveniently sidesteps the law by prefacing the sweep of a protected trust fund by the words, “Not withstanding any other provision of law”. Too bad we cannot all do that in our own businesses when we don’t wish to follow a law.
Funding issues became a little tighter Monday night when the revenue estimating conference cut $75 million from the current (09-10) revenue estimate for transportation (gas tax, tag & title fees) collections. This is $75 million less cash FDOT will have to finish the fiscal year. That means some projects will be cut in the current year’s work program. FDOT is busy trying to update its work program. Next year’s estimate is even worse; an additional $82 million is cut by the REC. In effect we just had a $150 million “sweep” without the legislature doing a thing! We are just collecting less money than previously estimated.
This is horrible news for not only the transportation construction industry and the citizens of Florida; but, also, for the Legislature. For us it means less work and fewer jobs. For the legislature it means the State Transportation Trust Fund cookie jar just became nearly empty!
Stay tuned – this is going to get very interesting-
All the talk at the Capitol is about “making the tough choices,” setting priorities, and cutting wasteful spending, and creating jobs. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. Sometimes it seems that few meaningful cuts are really made. It is more like a shell game where we simply take money from one pot (trust funds) and put it in another pot (general revenue). Essentially we are just kicking the can down the road. While small, the transportation portion of the stimulus was a life-saver, providing both jobs and much needed projects. Next year we don’t have that benefit.
Marion Hammer, former NRA President, gave excellent testimony in House Education and Economic Development Appropriations yesterday on trust funds. Fees collected for a specific purpose should be used for that purpose. When fees collected for a specific purpose are diverted to General Revenue and not used for their intended purpose they become a tax. I could not agree more with Ms. Hammer.
The bill under consideration in committee, HB 651, places the trust fund for license fees for concealed weapons into an existing statue protecting certain trust funds. It prohibits taking money from those funds for other than their intended purpose.
Guess what other trust fund is already in the law? You guessed it – the State Transportation Trust Fund. Funny how that works. The Legislature conveniently sidesteps the law by prefacing the sweep of a protected trust fund by the words, “Not withstanding any other provision of law”. Too bad we cannot all do that in our own businesses when we don’t wish to follow a law.
Funding issues became a little tighter Monday night when the revenue estimating conference cut $75 million from the current (09-10) revenue estimate for transportation (gas tax, tag & title fees) collections. This is $75 million less cash FDOT will have to finish the fiscal year. That means some projects will be cut in the current year’s work program. FDOT is busy trying to update its work program. Next year’s estimate is even worse; an additional $82 million is cut by the REC. In effect we just had a $150 million “sweep” without the legislature doing a thing! We are just collecting less money than previously estimated.
This is horrible news for not only the transportation construction industry and the citizens of Florida; but, also, for the Legislature. For us it means less work and fewer jobs. For the legislature it means the State Transportation Trust Fund cookie jar just became nearly empty!
Stay tuned – this is going to get very interesting-
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