I madea plea, and this was Senator Gaetz response:
Dear Kerri,
Thanks so much for your email and for your support of beach restoration. I couldn't agree more with you. The renourishment and restoration of our beaches is important to our economy and to the stability of our coastline.
As you may know, this year Florida faces what some have described as the worst budget predicament in 32 years. There is what amounts to a $4 billion negative swing in revenues compared to a "normal" year. The soft economy that we all know so well here is affecting economic sectors state-wide and nation-wide. Since our state budget is based on consumption (sales taxes, transaction taxes, etc), when economic activity is down, the state has less money to spend.
Our Florida Constitution requires a balanced budget. That means the Governor and Legislature must either raise taxes or reduce spending in order to bring revenues and expenses into balance. It's unlikely that raising taxes would be good for our economy. Consequently, there will be unavoidable cuts in spending affecting every part of the budget. As Chairman of the Education Committee, I'm working with the mandate to cut $1 billion from schools. As a member of the Health Appropriations Committee, I'm facing the necessity of reducing health care outlays for some of our most vulnerable citizens by at least $500 million. While I wish it were otherwise, other important priorities -- including beach restoration -- are very likely to be reduced, as well.
Regrettably, this isn't an issue that can be solved with meetings or lobbying or emails. The loss of revenues can only be resolved by economic activity. Every President since John Kennedy has used tax cuts as a way of generating economic activity and that's what our voters did by approving Amendment 1, which means that over the next five years individuals, families, and businesses will be able to keep billions of dollars that otherwise would have been taxed by government. My hope, and that of most who voted for Amendment 1, is that allowing people to have more of their own money to invest, spend, save and control will help us generate some economic activity. In reality, many economists predict not one but two more very tough budget years for Florida.
I share all of the foregoing not to bore you with economics but to let you know why the beach restoration issue can't be fixed just by all of us agreeing it should be fixed. There has to be money in the bank so the checks will cash. Right now, there isn't enough money.
Of course, I'll work closely with Representative Sansom, who is Speaker-designate of the Florida House and Chairman of the Budget and Policy Council, on behalf of Northwest Florida projects, including the important beach restoration program you and I both support. This is a top priority for our community. But it would be misleading and dishonest for me to guarantee that beach restoration in our area could somehow be unaffected by the budget realities I've tried to describe.
In my view, local leaders have worked very hard to develop a responsible beach restoration effort. I'll do all I can to encourage the Governor and the Legislature to provide as much support as soon as possible. I did want you to know how the economic environment is affecting the budget and why it is more unlikely than likely that we will get all of the funding we want.
Please feel free to contact me again about this or any other issue. I'll try to keep you informed as the budget process continues in Tallahassee. Your comments, criticisms and guidance help me be a better senator.
Respectfully,
Senator Don Gaetz
