Hometown projects in salvage mode as budget talks forge on

TALLAHASSEE — State lawmakers scrambled Tuesday to salvage dozens of hometown projects in Tampa Bay and South Florida as they cobble together a new state budget before a July 1 deadline.

Thanks to luck, timing and raw political power, some projects made the cut and others didn't. Those that didn't are technically alive but are now at the mercy of two men who control the Legislature's budget committees: Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, and Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes.

"We ran out of time and we ran out of money," said Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, who kept a watchful eye on projects in an economic development budget with the most discretionary spending.

Unable to agree on everything, they "bumped" most of the budget of the Department of Economic Opportunity to Lee and Corcoran, including dividing up money for job incentive programs and paying for a $4 million program to market Florida as a jobs destination.

As the three-week special session nears the midway point, Tuesday was the last day that budget committees could meet, and dozens of projects fell victim to the clock.

They included $1 million for new acoustics at St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater; $500,000 for a community theater in Homestead; $300,000 for a homeless shelter in Fort Walton Beach; and $100,000 for a garbage truck for the town of Altha.

The economic development budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars in projects for libraries, marinas, airports, bike trails, research parks, cultural centers, theater companies and YMCAs — all subject to Gov. Rick Scott's line-item veto.

The final budget will include $1 million for the East Lake community library in Palm Harbor, $1 million for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, $1 million for the Tampa Theatre, $500,000 for the Tampa Bay History Center, $300,000 for a Clearwater Beach water taxi and $204,000 for the Clearwater Historical Society Museum.

Education budget negotiators reached final agreement Tuesday on a 3 percent increase in school funding, or $207 more per student. But they did not strike a deal on hundreds of millions of dollars in college and university construction projects — including $17 million to relocate the USF medical school and $16 million for a heart institute in downtown Tampa.

"It's a lot of money," said Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa. "I'm afraid that it will be one of those projects that becomes a pawn between the House and the Senate."

The USF projects may require using borrowed money through bonding, which House Majority Leader Dana Young, R-Tampa, calls "a huge lift."

The Senate has no plan for bonding higher-education projects. Scott, who has significantly reduced state debt as governor, opposes using borrowed money on public projects.

The spirit of political compromise that was on display Tuesday was in sharp contrast to the day before, when budget talks collapsed in anger after an ugly standoff between Latvala and his House counterpart, Rep. Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola, over the House's sudden insistence on more money for job-incentive programs.

Legislators agreed Tuesday to spend $32 million for those programs next year, including $7 million left unspent in the current year's budget.

Latvala also dropped his earlier skepticism of a House request for $10 million in unspecified "space infrastructure facilities" to make up for the loss of the space shuttle program in Brevard County, the home of House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island. House leaders have given no explanation of how the money would be spent.

"I had it explained to me and I think it's a worthwhile endeavor," Latvala said.

Lawmakers reauthorized an unspent $600,000 to Hillsborough County to renovate a building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Tampa to be shared by Tax Collector Doug Belden and the state drivers license agency.

Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, hailed a $750,000 grant to the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg and $240,000 for the Bethel AME Church restoration project in Pinellas.

Virtually every legislator has a wish list of local water projects, but the amount of money available is only a fraction of the requests. Like the economic development projects, whether specific projects are funded now depends on Lee and Corcoran.

Miami-Dade wants $5 million each for a disposal well, a Normandy water project and a Wagner Creek-Seybold Canal restoration project.

The city of Largo wants $4 million for a wet-weather system and effluent pumping system improvements, and Tampa is asking for $2.5 million for an augmentation project.

"The requests are north of $1 billion and the allocation is $50 million," said Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, referring to water projects. "We just beg your patience and your endurance. … We're going to have to ask for your forgiveness sometimes, too."

Contact Steve Bousquet at bousquet@tampabay.com.