Florida Budget Highlights A Glance
SPENDING BREAKDOWN
- Education: $19.85 billion.
- Health and human services: $26.03 billion.
- Transportation: $6.54 billion.
- Criminal justice and corrections: $4.76 billion
- General government: $4.72 billion.
- Natural resources and environment: $2.74 billion.
- Courts: $451 million.
FEDERAL STIMULUS
- The budget would spend $5.3 billion from President Barack Obama's stimulus plan with the biggest shares going to education ($2.7 billion), health and human services ($1.7 billion) including the state-federal Medicaid and food stamp programs, natural resources ($390 million) and transportation and economic development ($375 million). Of the total, $1.1 billion in education stimulus hinges on getting a waiver from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan because state support of public schools has declined since 2006.
TOBACCO TAXES
- The tax on cigarettes would increase by $1 to $1.34. The 25 tax on the wholesale price of other tobacco products would increase by 60 to 70 percentage points except for cigars, which will be exempt.
MOTOR VEHICLES
- Driving-related fees would increase by about $800 million. Some examples: a 35 percent increase for annual motor vehicle registration fees, which are based on weight, which add about $5 to the fee for the lightest cars, about $11.40 for the heaviest and up to about $340 for the heaviest trucks; an increase from $100 to $225 for initial vehicle registration; initial driver licenses will increase from $27 to $48 while a renewal will go up from $20 to $48. Title fees will increase from $24 to $70. The state, though, will close seven driver license offices.
COURTS
- Court filing fees would increase by $227 million. Civil filing fees will increase by $100 to $395, probate fees by $115 to $395, foreclosure filing fees will go up by $100 to $395 for property valued under $50,000, by $605 to $900 for property valued from $50,000 to $250,000 and by $1,605 to $1,900 for higher values. Indigents, though, would be able to get their fees waived and those for tenant cases would be reduced by $85 to $180.
PRISON INMATES
- Copayments for non-emergency health care will increase from $4 to $5.
STATE EMPLOYEES
- State workers who make more than $45,000 a year will get a 2 percent pay cut although reductions will be adjusted to prevent anyone from being reduced to below $45,000. The cut is expected to affect 28,000 employees, or 21 percent of the state's work force. It will not include state college and university employees. Legislators also will get a 2 percent cut besides a 5 percent reduction they took last year, cutting their salaries to just under $30,000. The state, though, will cover a 5 percent increase in employee health care premiums.
PUBLIC SCHOOL SPENDING
- Elementary and secondary schools will get $6,873 per student, an increase of $28 over the current year, or 0.4 percent, but it's $255 less than in 2007-08. Total funding is $17.9 billion, a $5.1 million increase, or 0.03 percent.
SCHOOL TAXES
- The minimum property tax rate school districts must levy will increase from nearly $5.14 to about $5.31 per $1,000 of taxable value although it'll bring in about $448 million less than last year due to a 12 percent decline in real estate values. School districts also will retain previous authority to levy another 75 cents per $1,000 of property value. They then could add another 25 cents per $1,000 through a board vote of more than a simple majority. This additional tax would expire after two years unless continued by voters.
SCHOOL SALARIES
- School board members' salaries would be limited to no more than that of a beginning teacher in each member's district. Elected school superintendent salaries would be cut 2 percent.
CLASS SIZE
- Class size limits of 18 to 25 students that were scheduled to go into effect for each classroom will be delayed for a year. The limits, instead, will remain in effect on a school average basis as they are now.
COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY TUITION
- Base tuition at community colleges and state universities will increase by 8 percent statewide. Individual universities also will be able to add another 7 percent in differential tuition for a 15 percent total increase. The 8 percent increase would boost tuition for a university student taking the average 30 credit hours in a year by $197 for a total of $2,658. At 15 percent, the increase would be $369 for a $2,830 total. The 8 percent increase would be $130.50 a year for a full-time community college student.
BRIGHT FUTURES
- These scholarships based on college and university students' grades and entrance test scores will no longer cover tuition increases nor courses dropped after the end of grace periods that allow drops and adds without penalty.
STATE UNIVERSITIES
- Florida's 11 public universities would get $22 million, an increase of just under 1 percent from current spending. State money, though, would be down by $207 million. The difference would be made up through $159 million in federal stimulus and $70 million more in tuition due to the 8 percent increase. The tuition and total numbers could increase depending on whether schools use their authority for differential tuition increases. The budget includes $21.2 million to fully fund new medical schools at Florida International University and the University of Central Florida as recommended by the Board of Governors and $5 million for a University of South Florida branch in Lakeland that the board did not request.
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
- Florida's community and state colleges would receive nearly $1.78 billion, an increase of $99.3 million, or 5.9 percent over current spending. The total includes the 8 percent tuition increase and $83.3 million in federal stimulus. Per student spending, though, is expected to drop slightly due to enrollment increases.
ENVRIONMENT
- The Florida Forever environmental land-buying program will get no money in the budget, but it will be able to carry over $250 million of $300 million in bonding authority from the current year. The state this year could sell only $50 million in bonds because of a decline in proceeds from a real estate transaction tax that funds the program. A new law closing a loophole in the tax and better market conditions are expected to make the bonds viable again. Everglades restoration would get $50 million and beach restoration $15 million.
HEALTH CARE
- Medicaid reimbursement rates for hospitals would by cut by up to 1.6 percent. Reimbursement rates for health maintenance organizations would reduced by just under 1 percent and nursing homes by 3 percent. Funding also will be reduced for home and community care for the elderly.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- A program to assist first-time homebuyers would get $30 million. The Visit Florida tourism promotion program would get $25 million, down from current spending but equal to what it was in 2006-07. The state will nearly double spending on film and entertainment incentives with an increase to $10.8 million.
TRANSPORTATION
- First-year spending on the 5-year transportation work program, which includes road and bridge building, would be $5.5 billion with federal stimulus providing an additional $1.35 billion. The budget, though, transfers $120 million from the state's transportation trust fund to other purposes.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.






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