Florida's $3 Billion Deficit and Slow Recovery May Force Deep Cuts to State Programs

Florida's $3 Billion Deficit and Slow Recovery May Force Deep Cuts to State Programs

By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau

PTALLAHASSEE | The Florida economy has hit bottom but the slow recovery will hinder lawmakers as they try to write a new state budget.

n the short term, state economists said Tuesday that while state revenue is growing, it won't be enough to offset a $3 billion budget deficit. Instead, lawmakers will use the next seven weeks of their annual session to craft a budget that likely will include deep cuts in key state programs ranging from Medicaid to state employee jobs.

"It's good news, things are stabilizing," said Amy Baker, head of the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research.

But while sales taxes, real estate fees and other revenue sources for the state are inching upward, "it's not going to translate into dollars quickly and certainly not in time to help them (lawmakers) this year," Baker said.

Barely needing to revise an estimate they made in December, state economists added another $25 million to this year's forecast and $56 million for the new budget year, which begins July 1. But those are paltry figures in a $66 billion budget.

In a more positive vein, the economists remain confident that revenue collections this year will exceed the prior year, breaking a three-year slump. And they projected a healthy, 6.7 percent boost in revenue next year.