The Florida Senate and House have released their draft budgets. Unfortunately, it appears neither has correctly interpreted the will of voters concerning the use of Amendment 1 funds.
While 75 percent of voters agreed to amend the Florida Constitution, they made their decision based on the following (abbreviated) language:
Amendment 1 “funds the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to acquire, restore, improve and manage conservation land, including wetlands and forests …” This seems fairly clear. In fact, the official title of the amendment was: “Water and Land Conservation Funds to Acquire and Restore Florida Conservation and Recreational Lands.”
Yet the Senate budget proposes only $15 million for Florida Forever and shifts more than $200 million of Amendment 1 funds toward covering existing agency expenses, such as administration and overhead.
There is something wrong with this picture.
In addition, both budget committee proposals marginally include land acquisition funding during the first year of the amendment’s implementation. The Conservation Coalition (which sponsored the amendment) recommended: first year funding at $170 million for Florida Forever land acquisition projects; $170 million for Everglades restoration; $115 million for land management; $60 million for springs protection; $39 million for Rural Family Land projects; $30 million for beach management; and $173 million to reduce debt service from previous bonds.
Instead, funding for Florida Forever is reduced to only $10.5 million in the House budget and $15 million in the Senate budget. Also, former Gov. Bob Graham challenged concerned citizens to call state legislators to tell them to allocate funding the way the voters mandated — for Florida Forever, new acquisitions and Everglades restoration.
This entire project is beginning to feel like the lottery amendment. If you recall, we thought we were voting to increase education spending. Instead, existing money was diverted from the education system and replaced with lottery money.
Read the article online:
http://www.tcpalm.com/opinion/guest-columns/martin-county-taxpayers-association-state-officials-appear-to-have-own-agenda-with-amendment-1_88534810