Road builders turn up pressure on Scott
by John Kennedy | May 23rd, 2011Road builders are upping the pressure on Gov. Rick Scott to veto the Legislature’s decision to pull $150 million out of the state’s transportation trust fund and scatter it across the budget, filling holes.
The Florida Transportation Builders Association delivered close to 3,600 petition signatures to Scott on Monday, urging he strike the fund shift. Builders say losing the money will hurt construction efforts and cost 8,400 jobs.
The association’s president, Bob Burleson, said in a letter to Scott the move “will only add to Florida’s strained unemployment compensation and healthcare systems.’
Joining Burleson in the pitch are six transportation building organizations, along with Associated Industries of Florida and Florida TaxWatch. The $69.7 billion budget now before Scott is almost certain the cause more layoffs in Florida economists warn, even as the state’s April unemployment level fell to 10.8 percent, its lowest level since September 2009.
Scott, though, has voiced little support for public spending as an economic driver. “I”m focused on building private sector jobs,” Scott said last week, when he raised the possibility of vetoing millions of dollars spending on university and college construction.
At the time, Scott said he worried about deepening the state’s debt — which may help road builders seeking to erase the $150 million trust fund shift. Those dollars are generated chiefly by motorists paying gas tax.
Tags: Bob Burleson, Florida Transportation Builders Association, vetoes
May 23rd, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Private sector (outside of the companies who contract for the work) will not maintain Florida’s roadways… the idea of the trust fund and dedicated source of funding was to assure there was enough money to pay private entities to maintain and build roads.
May 24th, 2011 at 11:10 am
The idea of the trust fund and dedicated source of funding was to assure there was enough money to pay private entities to maintain and build roads.
May 24th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Rick Scott has a mob associate in his leadership coalition. Meet Joe Ardolina of American Truck Sales. He’s a former vice president in the now defunct H&W Refuse Service whose president was Anthony Carione, fingered by law enforcement along with his brother Frank Carione, as then active figures in the underworld. Another brother, Joseph Carione, plead guilty to defrauding the government as a co-defendant in a case that involved Colombo crime boss Andrew Russo. bit.ly/edERUe
May 24th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
fascists asking a fascist for money .. fitting