Cuts on the horizon? Florida lawmakers brace for bad budget news

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — When Florida lawmakers left Tallahassee in March, COVID-19 was already spreading in the state, but the lockdowns and layoffs hadn’t started; then came March 15.

The economic shutdown started in the middle of the month and has endured well into May. Already sales tax numbers for March ate $750 million off estimates, and with April’s numbers on the way, state leaders know the worst may still be ahead.

“77% of our state’s revenue, that we operate the state with comes from tourism,” said Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis. “Just Disney is over 700 million dollars to the state of Florida in sales tax revenue, that’s not including when their employee gets a paycheck and goes and spends it at the local department store.”

As the CFO it is the job of Patronis to keep an eye on revenue projections, and right now projections are bad and poised to get worse when April’s numbers come out.

“We are in unique times with an unseen enemy and it’s throwing curves that we’ve never seen before in the state of Florida,” said Patronis.

Florida does have about $2 billion in reserves and another $2 billion in its rainy day fund. State lawmakers are also banking on funding from the federal government to soften the budget hole. As such, lawmakers don’t think there will need to be a special session. They also don’t want to talk about budget cuts.

“There are so many good items in that budget. It’s painful to think about those items being wiped off the board,” said Sen Joe Gruters (R - FL 23rd District).

But cuts may become inevitable. Under state law, a budget deficit of 1.5% ($500 million) will trigger cuts. Lawmakers contend between reserves, federal dollars, and rainy day funds they can stretch out the 1.5% to closer to 6%. However, that optimism is built on April’s sales tax numbers not being catastrophic and the economy rebounding in the third quarter.

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