Gov. Rick Scott followed through Thursday on his plan to take a fresh tough look at some of Florida’s oldest governments — the 1,600 special districts that command $15.5 billion in taxpayer money.

The Post reported last month that Scott was planning to sign the executive order, setting in motion a review of the districts by his Office of Policy and Budget. The analysis will gauge whether districts are serving the purpose they were formed to meet, spending taxpayer money prudently, and operating transparently.

Palm Beach County, with 94 special districts, has among the most in the state. Special districts trace their roots to pioneer days in Florida, and provide environmental, health care, fire control, port, community development, and urban renewal services.

Florida’s five water management districts and more than 30 hospital districts are exempt from the review — since they have already undergone similar scrutiny.

Scott’s first foray into special districts came when he signed into law legislation that reduced property-tax revenue by $210 million at Florida’s water management districts. The South Florida Water Management District, the state’s largest, took the biggest financial hit, which also cost almost 400 employees their jobs.

“Floridians have a right to know what they’re being taxed for and how that money is spent,” Scott said. “This review will bring to light these questions and allow us to identify ways to save taxpayers money and increase accountability.”

Officials at special districts anticipated Scott’s move — which he has been hinting at since last summer, when he expressed “shock” at the amount of dollars that are controlled by Florida’s districts.

 “Central to the discussions that will take place throughout the review should be that Special Districts are created upon public demand, and help Floridians when local or state governments were either unable or unwilling to provide crucial services or infrastructure to a community,” said Clete Saunier, president of the Florida Association of Special Districts.

“As the review gets underway, we look forward to working closely with the governor and his team to show Floridians how their tax dollars are being put to good use every day,” he added.

Fresh from cutting $210 million in taxes and scores of jobs at Florida’s water management districts, Gov. Rick Scott is sizing up a new target in his drive to shrink government.

The rest of Florida’s more than 1,600 special districts, and the $15.5 billion in taxpayer money they command, are suddenly in Scott’s cross hairs.

“I was shocked that it was $15 billion,” Scott said last week of district revenues. “On behalf of the citizens of the state, we have to look at what return we’re getting for those dollars.”

The little-understood agencies trace their roots to log-­cabin Florida and provide a variety of environmental, health care, community development and other services. Palm Beach County has 94 special districts, among the most in the state.

Critics deride special districts as “shadow governments” that burden Floridians with taxes, fees and costly bond issues to finance big projects. Members of the tea party movement, an influential supporter of Florida’s Republican governor, have grown increasingly wary of districts’ authority.

Full story here:  http://bit.ly/qkRKCi

The state’s five water management districts have slashed their budgets by more than $700 million – about 40 percent – but Gov. Rick Scott, who initiated the cuts, wants more.

After the water management districts fired employees, cut benefits and put the brakes on land purchases, Scott still wants another $2.4 million in paycuts and benefit reductions.

Scott, however, signed off on the South Florida Water Management District’s $571 million budget – more than 47 percent than the current year’s – without asking for further cuts.

The agency saved more than $100 million by doing away with more than 270 jobs, cutting benefits, canceling contracts and grounding flight operations.

Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel Vinyard announced the cuts at a press conference this morning, flanked by representatives of each of the state’s five water management districts.

Gov. Rick Scott ordered the cuts to force the districts to focus on their “core mission resonsibilities” of water supply, flood protection, water quality and natural system protection, Vinyard said.

The revised budgets are a “critical first step in ensuring the water management districts focus on their core environmental mission,” he added.

The shrunken spending by the districts goes far beyond the $210 million in cuts lawmakers ordered through property tax reductions.

South Florida Water Management District executive director Melissa Meeker, who joined Vinyard this morning, said her agency remains committed to Everglades cleanup and other projects underway.

“You will not see a bump in the road from the South Water Management District,” she said.

But environmentalists complained that the cuts will undercut the state’s commitment to protecting Florida waters.
“The deep cuts to the state’s water management districts undermine years of progress in protecting Florida’s water resources,” Audubon of Florida executive director Eric Draper said in a statement.”The cuts serve only the purpose of allowing politicians to claim tax cuts. The agencies involved and the Governor are not being completely candid in telling the public how these cuts will affect water supply, environmental protection and Everglades restoration.”

Despite a credit rating downgrade and more than 100 layoffs, Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday he supported the dramatic changes occuring at the South Florida Water Management District, saying “absolutely the right things are happening.”

Legislation signed into law by Scott cuts property taxes across Florida’s five water management districts by $210 million. The South Florida district, the state’s largest, is slicing spending by $120 million, or about 30 percent of its property-tax collections, sparking scores of layoffs and buyouts.

The financial hit also led the ratings agency, Standard & Poor, to downgrade the district’s credit rating a notch, to AA+. Although the district has no immediate plans to issue bonds, S&P’s action could raise the future cost of borrowing by water managers.

“Why should they be out borrowing more money?” Scott said. “They should be doing what the state is doing…especially in tough times like this. What would you do in your own house? What do Floridians have to do now? They have to watch every penny.”

“That’s exactly what they should expect out of government,” Scott concluded.

 

A day after Senate President Mike Haridopolos toughened his stance against the governor’s must-have corporate income tax cut, Republican Rick Scott said Monday that he still expected lawmakers to take steps to reduce the $1.8 billion levy.

A roughly 25 percent reduction in water management district property-tax collections was agreed-on Sunday by House and Senate budget negotiators. The cut was part of Scott’s wide-ranging $2 billion plan for slashing taxes. But is the water management district cut enough for Scott to declare victory?

Probably not, the governor said.

“I’m glad that they are doing the right thing in regards with water management districts,” Scott said. “And I remain confident that we’re going to start the process of eliminating the business tax. It’s clearly the way to get our state back to work.”

Would he veto a budget that didn’t make room for the tax cut, as the governor has hinted in radio addresses and interviews?

“I focused on three things with this budget,” Scott said. “Step one, we need to reduce the size of this budget.

“Everything I’m doing, as you know, as governor, is to get our state back to work….We still have a million people without a job. The budget that I expect to sign will reduce the size of government, the cost of government, and the business tax.”

Haridopolos on Sunday said he didn’t think the Senate would go along with cutting the corporate tax, although he conceded that he and Scott’s office had been working on some reduction plans.

 Scott’s proposal would have reduced the tax by $333 million next year– but Haridopolos said the Senate is more inclined to look at other reductions, leaving the 5.5 percent corporate income tax at its current level.

House and Senate budget negotiators agreed Sunday night to give Gov. Rick Scott one of his tax-cutting proposals — a roughly 25 percent reduction in water management district property taxes.

House budget chief Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, advanced the offer — which was similar to an even deeper property tax cut and takeover of water management district budgets that had been pushed by her Senate counterpart, J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales.

Florida’s five water management districts collect over $1 billion in property taxes, with the South Florida Water Management District collecting $411 million, alone. But SFWMD’s collections would be capped at $285 million under the deal reached Sunday, roughly a $126 million reduction in the district’s dollars.

Alexander, a citrus grower whose district includes Okeechobee and Glades counties,  has been pushing to more tightly restrict water management district spending for months.  He’s said districts have been sitting on reserves that could be used to cover existing costs and make room for the property tax break.

The South Florida district has $346 million in reserves, according to Alexander.

Environmentalists have said they feared the tax-cut package could threaten Everglades restoration, whose final dollar level is still being negotiated. The Senate has proposed $20 million, and the House $25 million to continue the ambitious state-federal Everglades project.

The water districts tax cut drew resistence earlier this spring from the state House Select Committee on Water Policy, whose chairman, Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, is a former South Florida district governing board member.

She questioned whether the agency could carry out its flood control and maintenance responsibilities with a steep reduction in revenues. Because of slumping property-tax values across the region, tax revenue collected by the district has already dropped about $150 million, from $549 million in 2007-08.

Legislation that would add financial muscle to the obsure Lake Worth Drainage District — and possibly launch an ambitious South Florida water project — was approved Wednesday without comment by the House.

The House OK’d the legislation 117-0 by first-year Rep. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach, as part of a consent calendar that included almost two-dozen local bills.

The measure (HB 741) would give the drainage district authority to issue taxpayer-backed bonds to pay for canal improvements and construction of a 25-billion-gallon reservoir in western Palm Beach County to hold stormwater.

 The water would then be treated and moved through existing canals to South Florida’s thirsty shoreline communities from Wellington to Fort Lauderdale.

The legislation now awaits a Senate vote.

Supporters have touted the project as a common sense solution to the region’s environmental and growth management problems. But Gov. Rick Scott’s office has raised questions — which still may be unresolved — about taxpayer liability stemming from the plan, called the C-51 Reservoir Project.

Berman was warned earlier this session that Scott was considering vetoing the legislation. But the governor’s office hasn’t shed more light about his views on the project.

Currently, stormwater is wasted — flushed from the C-51 canal into the Lake Worth Lagoon — bringing with it sediments, pollutants and fresh water that seriously damage wildlife in the lagoon.

Instead, the project calls for it to be routed from the new reservoir east through the C-51 canal, then south to the Hillsboro Canal in Broward County. The project would rely on the ability of a patchwork of water managers, utilities and a controversial mining company — all with separate motives — to work together on the estimated $500 million project.

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The Legislature would gain a powerful new grip on the South Florida Water Management District and the state’s four other water boards under legislation that sailed unanimously Thursday through the Senate Budget Committee.

The bill (CS/SB 7154) would impose caps on how much districts could raise in property taxes beginning in October — reducing SFWMD’s levies by as much as $123 million.

 Districts also would have to submit their spending plans to the Legislature for approval, and the way they spend their dollars could be subject to a governor’s veto, under the bill.

Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, was among several senators railing about districts’ freewheeling spending, budget reserves totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, and the impact on property-taxpayers.

“It’s pretty hard to say what exactly are they spending the money on,” Alexander said.

Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, agreed, saying the legislative takeover would undoubtedly prove controversial — but worth it.

 ”I think there will be bumps along the road,” Hays said. “But this is a journey we should take.”

In case you missed it Sunday, The Palm Beach Post reported that the South Florida Water Management District has hired its executive director’s boyfriend to a six-figure job with her administration’s watchdog.

Our Joel Engelhardt lays it out here.

UPDATED with quote from Tea Party in Action leader….

Republican governor candidate Rick Scott announced late Wednesday that he’ll be outside the South Florida Water Management District headquarters in West Palm Beach this morning with a group called Tea Party in Action to protest the proposed U.S. Sugar buyout.

That prompted an e-mail blast in the wee hours of this morning from South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson questioning the Tea Party in Action group and Scott’s involvement.

Wilkinson, it should be noted, is personally supporting Bill McCollum in the GOP governor primary, though he says his endorsement has nothing to do with the South Florida Tea Party.

Says Tea Party in Action leader Marianne Moran: “Everett Wilkinson spends a lot of time telling reporters who he says are ‘real’ tea party members as if he’s the sole authority. He spends the rest of his time endorsing career politician Bill McCollum. Tea Party in Action wants to kill this corporate bailout of US Sugar. We welcome Rick Scott and any political candidates willing to join this cause.”

Read Scott’s announcement and Wilkinson’s statement after the jump…..

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Crist today will reappoint Shannon Estenoz and appoint Anne “Sandy” Batchelor-Robjohns, chairwoman of The Batchelor Foundation, and Weston attorney Glenn Waldman

With a March 11 vote scheduled on whether to extend the contract expiration date for the US Sugar deal, Waldman and Batchelor replace Paul Huck, who recused himself from voting on the Sugar before he resigned, and Mike Collins, who was the only governing board member to oppose the deal twice.

Crist said he made the appointments with an eye on the Everglades deal.

“We’re going to keep firing the canon and doing the job,” Crist said.

UPDATED: Story reflects version published in the Feb. 18 print edition of The Palm Beach Post.

Locally affected special districts:

South Florida Water Management District
Health Care District of Palm Beach County
Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County
Children’s Services Council of Martin County
St. Lucie County Fire District
Source: Florida Community Affairs Department

TALLAHASSEE — The power to raise property taxes would rest solely with elected officials under a constitutional amendment proposed for the November ballot.

The amendment would revamp the supervision of hospital and children’s services districts across the state and make the South Florida Water Management District, which covers 16 counties and includes about 7 million people, the biggest voting district in the state and among the largest in the country, according to the National Association of Election Officials.

“It’s something called ‘no taxation without representation,” said state Rep. Carl Domino, a Jupiter Republican sponsoring the amendment (HJR 493) discussed Wednesday in the House Governmental Affairs Committee.

Objections were raised Wednesday by the special district officials who argued the districts were created — in most cases voter-approved — specifically to avoid electoral politics.

“You will change fundamentally how these water management districts operate,” Audubon of Florida’s Eric Draper told the committee.

Draper reminded the House panel that another Palm Beach County lawmaker, former Senate President Phil Lewis, D-Riviera Beach, led an “extraordinarily thoughtful legislative process” that asked voters to approve water districts along hydrological lines instead of political boundaries.

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With a $536 million, 73,000-acre state purchase of land from U.S. Sugar in the balance, Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday filled three vacancies on the nine-member South Florida Water Management District board.

The board approved the purchase on a 4-3 vote last year, but the deal faces additional votes.

Our Tony Doris breaks it down here.