Budget Watch - Governor's Recommended Budget

Governor Rick Scott’s budget recommendations for FY2015-16 total $76.980 billion, slightly less ($92.8 million, or 0.1 percent) than current year spending of $77.073 billion. The budget proposes to fund 113,485 state employee positions, 1,018 fewer than currently exist. The proposed budget is also $540.1 million less than was requested by state agencies this fall, and funds 2,339 fewer positions than requested.

The Governor’s proposed budget will serve as the framework for the state’s new spending plan as the Legislature formulates the state General Appropriations Act this session. The budget recommendations focus on taxes and education funding. The Governor is proposing $673.2 million in tax cuts, $33.2 million of which are local government revenues. These tax savings are the recurring annual amount, and the impact to state general revenue (GR) in the next budget year is $487.1 million. The Governor is also recommending what would be the highest level of per-student K-12 funding in history (not adjusted for inflation).