PRESS RELEASE May 26, 2000

Tallahassee, FL – Florida TaxWatch today released their budget turkey report on the state budget for fiscal year 2000-2001.

This year's report reveals the 2000 legislature generated a total of 281 budget turkeys, totaling $222.0 million. Florida TaxWatch identified 160 turkeys worth $99 million in General Revenue and 121 turkeys worth $123.0 million in Trust Funds. This year's budget turkeys cost each Florida household $36, with budget turkeys costing every man, woman, and child in Florida $14. This year's turkeys total almost as much as last year's record setting crop of $234.7 million, although in number, this year's 281 is far less than last year's 526. It does confirm that turkeys are back in full force, after a few years of relatively small turkey numbers in the early 1990s.

“Turkeys are getting smarter, or at least trickier,” said Florida TaxWatch President Dominic M. Calabro. “We are up against increasingly clever methods of legitimizing member projects.”

According to the Florida Constitution the only bill that has to pass each year is the budget. Since 1983, Florida TaxWatch has spotted items in the state budget dubbed “budget turkeys,” meaning those items placed in the budget without proper public review; which circumvent competition and the lawfully established procedures; which benefit a very limited special interest; or local area of the state or are low priority items that get funded over higher priority needs.

“We recommend Governor Bush veto turkeys unless there is a compelling reason not to,” said Calabro. “The question is, will Floridians be harmed if they are? If not, the turkeys should go.”

As in previous years, it is important to note that the “budget turkey” label does not denote condemnation of a budget item's worthiness. The term merely suggests that with the state's vast and pressing needs, and limited resources, the question must be asked, “Is this the best use of Floridians' state tax dollars?”

This and previous Turkey Watch reports are not attempts to record only government waste or inefficiency. While in some cases that may be a factor, this year's report offers an independent assessment about the honesty, integrity and public review of the state's $50.9 billion 2000-2001 budget. Florida TaxWatch points out without an appropriate review process there is no fiscal integrity and accountability to citizens' hard-earned tax dollars.

One of the most important arguments for stopping turkeys is to protect the many urgently needed state services that the funds spent on turkeys would otherwise purchase. The $222 million, now appropriated for budget turkeys, could be used for:

More than 6,000 new public school teachers,
An additional 100,000 computers for school classrooms,
$90 in additional funding for each K-12 student,
50,000 new child care slots,
A general tax reduction of $36 per household

Examples of this year's budget turkeys include:

#1821E Grand Intermodal Terminal and the Orange County Convention Center, $11.97 million (Trust Fund). This proviso language earmarking the OCCC as the site for this public transportation project was added in conference. It did not go through DOT's work program or any review by the department.

#2645A Cultural Projects, $5.19 million (General Revenue). This item earmarks 18 local projects for funding. These projects did not go through any of the cultural grant programs administered by the Department of State. Some of these projects were identified as turkeys last year and vetoed by the Governor.

#1607 Underground Storage Tank Cleanup - Miami Shores Village Storage/Tank Cleanup, $300,000 (Trust Fund). This was an item which appeared only in conference for petroleum tank cleanup activities in Miami Shores Village. In addition, the project did not go through the review process for the Petroleum Cleanup program.

#2453 Distributions to Counties-Wireless 911, $779,800 (General Revenue). These nine items circumvented a funding process established in law in 1999 for upgrades to small county 911 systems. (99-367 LOF)

Florida TaxWatch is a 20-year-old statewide, non-partisan, non-profit research institution supported by homeowners, small businesses, corporations, labor, individuals and philanthropic foundations. Florida TaxWatch is a public interest group dedicated to improving citizen understanding and government accountability.