Tampabay.com

FEBRUARY 07, 2011

Highlights of Gov. Rick Scott's $65 billion proposed budget

Here are highlights of Gov. Rick Scott's proposed $65 billion budget

Education
* Cuts the education budget by $4.8 billion by slashing $703 in per pupil spending. That money would be offset the first year by $403 per student with one-time federal money; the cut is a 10 percent reduction in this year's $6,899 in per-pupil spending.
* Increases the amount spent on private school vouchers by $250 million in 2012.

State workers
* Cuts 8,600 jobs statewide, 7.3 percent of the workforce
* All 655,000 school district employees, state and county workers in the Florida Retirement System would be required to contribute 5 percent of their salaries to the state pension fund beginning July 1, 2011, saving $2.8 billion over two years.
* Beginning in July 2012, all state employees would receive $5,000 in health insurance regardless of family size.

Medicaid
* Proposes $3 billion in reductions over two years, including $1 billion in cuts to provider reimbursement rates. Savings are expected by receiving federal approval to transfer all 3 million Medicaid patients into a managed care program which would control costs and crack down on fraud.

Prisons
* Proposes eliminating 1,690 employees from Department of Corrections by closing two prisons.
Corrections houses more than 100,000 inmates in 146 facilities, employing 18,200 employees.

Property Taxes
* State-set school property taxes would be cut by $1 billion over two years. Scott had pledged a $1.4 billion cut in the first year, but is phasing in a lesser tax cut over two years.
* Water management districts would be asked to take a 25 percent reducting in their annual property tax levy for two years, contributing $178 million and school districts would be expected to rollback taxes $507 million in first year.

Corporate Income Tax
* Corporate income tax would drop from 5.5 percent to 3 percent in 2011-12 and be phased out by 2018.* * The first year savings would be $458 million statewide.

Fees
* Motor vehicle fees would be scaled back, saving $235 million.

Environment
* The Department of Community Affairs would be merged with the Department of Environmental Protection, eliminating 530 jobs over two years. DCA staff will decrease to 40 employees within two years; budget drops to $70 million.

Children and Disabled
* Department of Children and Families would lose 1800 staff positions and $178 million.
* Agency for Person Disabilities decreases in size by 155 positions and $173 million, a 17 percent cut.

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For Florida political news today, the Buzz is your can't-miss-it source. Tampa Bay Times writers offer the latest in Florida politics, the Florida Legislature and the Rick Scott administration. Keep in mind: This is a public forum sponsored and maintained by the Tampa Bay Times. When you post comments here, what you say becomes public and could appear in the newspaper. You are not engaging in private communication with candidates or Times staffers.

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