March 28, 2024

Florida's Finances

The State's Budget- Two Opposing Views of How Florida Spends Its Money

Are We Tightwads... Or Big Spenders?

Mike Vogel | 3/1/2011

Are We Tightwads ...

Tightwad
[Illustrations: Jeff Papa]

Glenn Robertson

"The state government budget is really a public investment portfolio for all citizens and businesses. Each of us is providing tax money to the state to invest on our behalf for the things we want or need. When somebody's investing on our behalf, they should be telling us what are the pros and cons of reducing our investment in that."

— Glenn W. Robertson, president, Glenn W. Robertson & Associates consulting firm, Tallahassee, former director of state planning and budgeting and director of policy and finance


Espenses vs Output
Expenses vs. Output

For all the talk of wasteful government spending, the state budget as a percentage of Florida's Gross State Product is lower now than in 1999.

Compared to Other States ...

> Florida's expected $3.6 billion-plus budget gap is less than 6% of revenue.
> Illinois, which has a $13-billion deficit, in January jacked up the state's individual income tax rate by 2 percentage points and its corporation tax by 2.2 points.
> California has a $25-billion deficit that Gov. Jerry Brown says will necessitate massive cuts to services and higher education along with sales and income tax increases.

Bang for the Buck

Florida has the lowest state-employee-to-resident ratio in the country. Per capita spending on state employees is also the lowest in the country.

Year Florida’s Budget State Government Workforce
1999 $45.6B 128,778
2000 $48.2B 127,624
2001 $52.5B 124,838
2002 $46.9B 121,019
2003 $48.6B 115,854
2004 $51.8B 118,524
2005 $58.3B 118,030
2006 $61.6B 118,179
2007 $66.1B 115,370
2008 $64.4B 115,898
2009 $60.7B 113,565
2010 $62.0B 128,850
2011 $70.5B 126,764
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Tags: Politics & Law, Government/Politics & Law

Florida Business News

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

Should Congress ban the popular social media app TikTok in the U.S.?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Need more details
  • What is TikTok?
  • Other (Comment below)

See Results

Florida Trend Media Company
490 1st Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727.821.5800

© Copyright 2024 Trend Magazines Inc. All rights reserved.