Bush slices funds from hospitals, Metrorail

 

Gov. Jeb Bush slashed nearly $350 million in spending from the state's $58 billion budget, including millions intended for Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

 

By GARY FINEOUT

 

gfineout@herald.com

 

 

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush approved a nearly $58 billion state budget Friday for the coming year, but not before he slashed like never before, vetoing a record $350 million in spending.

 

From a budget dominated by standing priorities such as education and health, Bush sliced less than 1 percent -- still the most he has vetoed. The deleted items ranged widely, from breast cancer research at the University of Miami to hometown projects for powerful legislators such as Senate President Jim King and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd.

 

Bush also cut nearly $21 million intended for the state's trauma centers that was included in a separate bill. Of that, $3 million would have gone to three South Florida hospitals.

 

And he said he would veto $7 million for a proposed pre-kindergarten summer pilot program that would have included Miami-Dade County.

 

The largest item Bush vetoed: $56.3 million that legislators set aside to increase payment rates to health maintenance organizations that treat Medicaid patients.

 

''They did what was needed to be done and then they did a little bit more,'' Bush said. ``The Legislature presented a sound workable budget for Florida. But the budget also has a lot of things we either don't need, didn't go through the proper process or we really can't afford.''

 

MEDICAL, SECURITY

 

Bush cut plenty of items that were placed in the budget with the backing of powerful legislators, including $12 million in construction money for an Alzheimer's research center in Tampa named after Byrd's father and $3 million for biomedical and cancer research grants to be handed out by a Florida State University program that King had started. Both programs did receive other funds in legislation Bush signed into law back in March.

 

The governor cut $7.6 million that was to assist Jacksonville in security efforts for next year's Super Bowl and $1.5 million for fire and police equipment for the tiny town of Welaka, where King has a riverside home. Also on the cutting board: $1 million to help build roads near the private Ava Maria University in Collier County.

 

The long list of budget vetoes includes at least $21 million for projects in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

 

Bush vetoed $5 million intended to help pay for Metrorail's planned 9 ? mile northern corridor expansion, $2.16 million for a new campus police station at Florida International University, $1 million to help St. Thomas University with a new degree program, $200,000 for an Overtown Youth Center, $500,000 for the Miami-Dade Courthouse and more than $3 million for the University of Miami, most of which was targeted for cancer research.

 

The initial response from Republican legislative leaders was muted, with Byrd refusing to even comment on any line-item vetoes. King hinted that lawmakers may consider overriding some of the vetoes when they return to Tallahassee in November for an organizational session. In his six years in office, Bush has never seen a veto of his overridden.

 

''The vetoes by Gov. Bush in no way negate the good work accomplished by the Legislature this past session,'' King said in a statement.

 

``It is a good budget that encompasses many of the priorities of both the governor and the Legislature, and it was produced on time. Respectfully, we disagree with some of the governor's vetoes, but we recognize his authority to veto items as one of the steps in this process. Now, the Legislature will review these vetoes and determine if there is a need for further action on our part.''

 

Norman Braman, the South Florida car dealer and businessman, was livid at some of the governor's decisions. Bush, for example, cut $2 million intended for the UM cancer center named after Braman.

 

''I think his vetoes showed a great insensitivity to the people of the state,'' said Braman, who has donated more than $100,000 to the Republican Party of Florida the past two years. ``Very frankly, as a very active Republican I'm ashamed of him. I'm disappointed, and, frankly, embarrassed that my name has been associated with him.''

 

SELECTIVE PRAISE

 

Democratic legislators praised some of the Bush vetoes, saying they removed pork-barrel spending placed in the budget by Republican legislators. But Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat, lamented the cuts for South Florida, which had already lost millions in a budget fight over school funding this year.

 

''The items that were the product of personal agendas were rightly vetoed,'' Gelber said. ``But if you look at South Florida, once again the region with the highest unemployment and crime rates and health care challenges got ignored.''

 

As he has done in past years, Bush tried to shift attention away from his budget vetoes before he signed the budget on Friday. He spent nearly an hour extolling what was included in the $57.3 billion budget: More money for health care, more money for the developmentally disabled, a $1 billion overall increase for public schools and money for reading programs and reading coaches.

 

LAWMAKERS PRAISED

 

Bush applauded lawmakers for relying less this year on borrowing, deciding to use cash for a variety of environmental programs and for setting aside more than $200 million for tax cuts, including a sales tax holiday in late July and a month-long cut in gas taxes in August.

 

But Bush also said part of the reason he did slash so much spending this year was to respond to future budget demands, including the class-cap amendment, free pre-kindergarten classes starting in 2005, and increasing Medicaid costs.

 

Even though he has yet to get the bill outlining how that pre-kindergarten program would work, Bush said Friday he would likely sign it into law, but that he would veto $7 million included in it to set up a pilot program this summer.

 

The governor said that districts would not have time to get the program running and questioned the logic for those districts selected.

 

Bush said he had scuttled nearly $21 million for the state's trauma centers because the money was to be distributed equally to each trauma center -- including three in South Florida -- regardless of whether they had financial hardships.

 

''While it was well intended, it wasn't very thoughtful policy,'' Bush said.

:wow

 

pure evil!!

chances this hurts dubya in florida come november?

chances this hurts dubya in florida come november?

nope, that is why Jeb got reelected.

 

BTW, Jeb Bush is the Republican Governor from Miami. Dade County went to GW in 2000, and will again. Can anybody say John F. Kerry -> John F. Kennedy? If you don't know, Cubans and JFK are like oil and vinegar...don't mix well.

From a budget dominated by standing priorities such as education and health, Bush sliced less than 1 percent --

 

Only the piece of crap Herald can sqeeze 15 paragraphs of negative news out a of budget cut of less than 1 percent.

 

Also, notice that the article mentions specific cuts at least 9 times, but convieniently neglects to mention the total amount spent on the items where cuts were imposed.

 

 

Total crap by the Herald. So, in other words, par for the course.

From a budget dominated by standing priorities such as education and health, Bush sliced less than 1 percent --

 

Only the piece of crap Herald can sqeeze 15 paragraphs of negative news out a of budget cut of less than 1 percent.

 

Also, notice that the article mentions specific cuts at least 9 times, but convieniently neglects to mention the total amount spent on the items where cuts were imposed.

 

 

Total crap by the Herald. So, in other words, par for the course. That's why no one in Miami actually believes what the Herald says, not even the boxscores sometimes.

 

I used to get the Herald when I lived in Miami and the Sentinel when I lived in Pembroke Pines so I could house train my dogs.

Metrorail is Miami's problem, they have the sales tax for it.

 

Hospitals were not cut, just the increase was cut.