Crist vetoes $364M from Fla. deficit package

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Charlie Crist used his line-item veto power to undo $364 million in spending cuts, trust fund raids and money shifts Tuesday as he signed into law a series of bills designed to avert a current-year budget deficit of at least $2.3 billion.

Some of the $91 million in general revenue spending Crist restored will prevent additional layoffs of probation officers, continue the state’s popular Florida Forever environmental land-buying program and give board-certified teachers the full bonuses they had been promised.

Crist said he didn’t share the worries of Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and others that watering down the plan would jeopardize Florida’s bond rating and cause the state to pay higher interest when it borrows.

“That’s always possible,“ Crist said. “My primary concern, frankly, is with people directly, the students, the most vulnerable in our society, protecting our environmental issues going forward.“

The vetoes reduced the package by about $100 million to $2.5 billion. That would leave a $200 million cushion in case revenues keep falling below expectation over the rest of the budget year that ends June 30.

Crist also restored money for the state’s tourism promotion and industry recruiting efforts, programs that keep seniors and developmentally disabled people out of nursing homes and institutions by helping them stay in their own homes, services for autistic children and substance abuse programs. And he restored funds for body armor, other equipment and tuition assistance for National Guard troops.

The vetoes will prevent 118 probation officers from losing their jobs, but it won’t help 66 others who received layoff notices Jan. 15, just a day after lawmakers passed the plan during a special legislative session.

Visit Florida, the state’s public-private tourism agency, will be able to keep open highway welcome stations that promote attractions and serve free orange juice, and continue advertising across the nation.

“Without their marketing I’m concerned about what would happen to tourism in Florida,“ Crist said.

The governor, though, declined to veto a $190 million spending cut for affordable housing, saying it was just too much money to take back from other parts of the budget. Builders say they won’t be able to complete some projects already started under agreements with the state.

The move also will cost Florida $1.3 billion in economic stimulus and 13,000 jobs, said Florida Home Builders Association President Jay Carlson, a Port Charlotte contractor.

“It further devastates Florida’s housing industry,“ Carlson said.

Although there’s a glut of homes on the market, the state program helps build apartments and other low-cost dwellings builders say are in short supply. That’s due in part to a sharp increase in foreclosures forcing people to seek more affordable shelter.

Even with the vetoes the package cuts general revenue spending by $1.1 billion and reduces the budget to about $65 billion. The rest of the savings come from tapping reserves and trust funds and shifting dollars around within the budget.

The biggest cuts dollar-wise are to education. Public schools will lose $140 per student, a 2 percent cut. Other agencies received reductions of 4 percent or more although the Legislature spared the state’s road building program.

Lawmakers now are focusing on next year’s budget and the forecast of a gap of about $4 billion between revenue and must-fund expenditures such as schools, prisons and health care.

“The House respects Gov. Crist’s right to exercise his veto authority,“ said Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin. “We expect as the state’s chief executive he will provide his solutions on how to keep Florida’s budget in balance.“

Sansom last week said Crist’s new budget recommendations due Feb. 20 should include proposals to offset any deficit-reduction plan vetoes.

Crist said he already has done that by again urging lawmakers, in a signing letter, to approve a compact with the Seminole Indians that would pay the state millions in exchange for expanded gambling at tribal casinos. It would provide the state with $137.5 million in the current budget year.

Legislative leaders have said they’ll take up the issue but may change the compact if it’s passed at all. Some lawmakers are worried it would harm pari-mutuels — horse and dog racing and jai alai — and reduce those payments to the state.

The Florida Supreme Court last year ruled Crist did not have the authority to approve the compact on his own. The Seminoles have appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.