Transcript Mary Ann Gosa Director of Governmental Affairs Institute

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Thank You
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These are truly historical times.
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First time in history the budget has
dropped four years in a row.
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The legislature is inundated with
challenges.
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Budget cut by 10% ($7 billion) over the past two
years and facing a $6.7 billion deficit,
Inexperienced legislature,
Term Limits - Out of 160 members, 52 were
freshmen,
49% of the legislature has served four or fewer
years in their respective chamber,
Feb Special Session to cut current budget;
Speaker replaced just weeks before session began,
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No one in office had served under these
conditions.
Revenues consistently came in millions of
dollars under projections each quarter.
No one was sure how much we would have to
cut, so the legislative clock ticked silently while
everyone waited for the March numbers to
come in.
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There were conflicting estimates as to how many
stimulus dollars Florida would receive.
How would it have to be spent?
When would it have to be spent?
What strings would be attached?
Filling recurring $ holes with non-recurring money
is dangerous and just delays the pain.
Major philosophical difference between Senate and
House budgets.
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It took an extra week but a compromise budget was
built and passed.
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We shared painful cuts like everyone else, but in the
end we came out better than we expected.
Quote from FYIFAS:
“…in a year in which the state was facing a $6 billion
deficit, these cuts were much less than were
projected at one time. IFAS was treated fairly and
not cut disproportionately to the rest of the state
university system. We consider this a victory and
appreciate all the efforts you made to express your
support for IFAS by making yourselves heard. We
feel that your phone calls and/or personal visits
really turned the tide in our favor.”
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Economic Indicators
Florida's economy lost ground in 2008 and is continuing to
decline. Florida ranked 48th in the country in Gross
Domestic Product (GDP); this was dropped from 2nd in the
country in 2005.
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In April, the unemployment rate for Florida was 9.6%
compared to 8.9% nationally. January 2010 is projected
to go to 10.2% in Florida.
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Population growth, the state's primary engine of economic
growth, fueling both employment and income growth is
still slowing and expected to remain flat through 2012.
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This is the longest recession on record and is projected to
last through September 2009 for a total of 22 months.
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Recovery in the housing market is not anticipated to begin
until the latter half of Fiscal Year 2010-11, but it is
beginning to improve .
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Florida is expected to lag behind the nation in recovery. It
is projected that it will be 2012-13 before we begin to
pull out of this.
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Total GR funds for 2010-2011 are projected to increase
$1.7B over 2009-10.
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The 3 largest budget drivers in order of magnitude are:
1) K-12 Florida Education Finance Program; 2)
Medicaid; 3) Prison construction and operations.
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Providing for projected growth in those 3 areas will
cost an additional $1.5B in 2010-2011. This will leave
only $200M to address all of the other needs of the
State which total another $1.5B as projected in the 3year Long Range Financial Outlook.
Projected growth in General Revenue funds for
the next 3 years:
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2010-11: $1.7B
2011-12: $1.2B
2012-13: $2.0B
What do we do now?
How do we prepare for the next couple of
years?
One
Priority
Workload
Formula