Local

Florida forced to stagger timing of payments

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida is having a $1 billion a day problem.

State officials have been forced to stagger payments to schools and health care providers because Florida's accounting system can't process $1 billion or more in a single 24-hour period.

The state has come up against the daily limit in the wake of changes to Florida's Medicaid program.

In late June, payments to school districts were delayed one day. A spokesman for the Department of Education said it was not a "big deal" and districts were able to handle the delay.

Last week, the Department of Financial Services warned state agencies about the problem. The agency run by Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater also asked agencies to alert them ahead of time of any pending payments worth $5 million or more.