$80 billion state budget soon to begin taking shape
Florida lawmakers will soon begin hammering into shape an $80 billion state budget, with millions of dollars in environmental, social spending, arts and just plain old bricks and mortar projects for Palm Beach County hanging in the balance.
Much of the county’s wish list is familiar. But advocates say they are still finding fresh ways to make appeals to those who can make or break a deal.
“We’ve had members of our Board of Trustees and our president, Ava Parker, speak to the governor,” said Grace Truman, a spokeswoman for Palm Beach State College, which is seeking $9 million for continuing work on its Loxahatchee Groves campus this year. “We certainly are trying to speak with everybody we can to make our case.”
PBSC’s money is not yet in either the House or Senate budgets, although college and university funding is expected to be among the last sectors settled by lawmakers.
Last year, the college was shut out with a similar request. But a year earlier it drew $6 million to launch classroom construction on the campus.
The Loxahatchee Groves campus looms like a kind of political El Dorado on the county’s western edge, an almost mythic, not-quite-attainable goal that perennially commands attention from county lawmakers and school advocates.
Money for PBSC has been included three times in earlier years, but vetoed by Florida governors, including twice by Gov. Rick Scott. But supporters think – again – this time they may find gold in the final state spending plan.
As Florida lawmakers head into the final scheduled three weeks of this year’s session, that’s the nature of much of the spending included – or still to be added – in the budget blueprints.
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