PRESS RELEASE May 8, 2002

TALLAHASSEE -- A Budget Watch report issued today by Florida TaxWatch warns creative budgeting maneuvers by Florida lawmakers may lead to greater fiscal problems down the road.

"When you use revenue from a source that is not going to be there next year to pay for a program that will be there, it will make it all that more difficult to balance the budget the next time," said Dominic M. Calabro, President of Florida TaxWatch. "The use of non-recurring revenue to fund recurring programs is a bad budget policy that Florida Taxwatch has long urged the Legislature to avoid whenever possible."

The TaxWatch report provides a breakdown of recurring and non-recurring funds being used to balance the 2002-2003 fiscal year budget. Only time will tell how much non-recurring money will be used for recurring programs in the final state budget, but the initial analysis shows enough reliance on non-recurring funds to be cause for concern. The House Fiscal Responsibility Council Chair puts the amount of non-recurring funds in the current House budget at just over $1 billion.

"With the total state general revenue expected to increase by less than $1 billion in fiscal year 2003-2004, a major funding problem could be on the horizon," Calabro said. "If there is not enough money from growth or new initiatives, the Legislature's alternatives will be budget cuts, tax increases or even more creative budgeting."