Florida Facing $1.2-$2.3 Billion Budget Deficit

October 9, 2011

Florida lawmakers will face a general revenue budget deficit of $1.2 billion to $2.3 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, House Appropriations Committee members heard last week as the chamber readies for the 2012 session.

If the deficit is dealt with entirely with budget cuts, the state’s general revenue budget would decrease by 5.1 percent to 10 percent next year, committee staff director JoAnne Leznoff told committee members in a briefing.

The projections do not assume how lawmakers would make up the deficit. In years past, they have dealt with budget deficits with a combination of budget cuts, the use of non-recurring revenue and trust fund sweeps.

Comments

5 Responses to “Florida Facing $1.2-$2.3 Billion Budget Deficit”

  1. KB on October 12th, 2011 5:27 pm

    I guess that they will be wanting to doulbe the already trippled drivers liscense and registration fees!!!

  2. 429SCJ on October 11th, 2011 7:44 am

    Maybe Gov Scott can dig up one of those paydays he has buried somewhere. Pocket change for Ricky.

  3. SW on October 10th, 2011 9:23 am

    Why don’t they just trim back the budget? That’s what ‘we the people’ have to do when we are short on payday, right?

    It’s not an income problem, it’s an outgo problem, I do believe.

    We should be watching what our legislators do here.

    @Bopper, why don’t we make our governments (state, local, and federal) do things that encourage all businesses to be successful by creating an environment conducive to that growth? It is not the fault of business to try to operate at maximum profit in an environment friendly to them; it is why businesses relocate from the north to the south in the US and from the US to other countries. Your suggestion to support local vs corporate has some validity, however, do you think that is going to happen when the economy is down and the wallet is near empty and budgets are tight?

    The cutting of teachers, law enforcement, and fire fighters is a bluff that the politicians love to play; cutting spending in other non-essential areas (foreign aid would be a good start-especially since we’re borrowing the money to do it with; imagine going to your local banker to ask for a loan because you want to give the money away!?) would be the answer. The other bluffs are that the seniors won’t get their social security/medicare and the military won’t get paid (all the while paying out the years of unemployment benefits and medicaid/food stamps to folks who don’t need/deserve it). It won’t happen as long as the bluff works.

    An informed electorate who would continually put pressure on elected officials could make things happen.

    Either that or we continue to listen to the pretty music as the ship sinks.

  4. Big Bopper on October 10th, 2011 8:20 am

    We support Russia with 3 billion dollars a year, and we borrow to be able
    to afford to do that nice thing for them. We support many countries with
    steady realiable money every single year, yet we make nothing here to
    bring money into this country, so we cut everything we need, like teachers,
    law enforcement and yadda, yadda, yadda.

    Last week I talked to a Company in India who does work for one of our
    biggest computer companies, he said they have a whole building complex with 60,000 workers in it and those jobs used to be ours.

    The answer is to stop buying from Big Businesses and only buy
    from Mom and Pop shops and if it doesnt say made in the U.S.A.
    Do without it ………

  5. molino jim on October 9th, 2011 1:58 pm

    We are all facing major income short falls and I for one do not have an answer where the money is going to come from. The use of the trust monies has been going on for a long time and there will have to be a day when these monies will be needed and they’ll not be there.