PANAMA CITY— Bay County’s big-ticket items survived Gov. Rick Scott’s veto Monday as a nearly $77 billion Florida budget for the 2015 fiscal year became law.
Locally, the largest amount of state funds will be funneled into several transportation improvement projects next year, including about $94 million for planning, right of way acquisition and construction for the first two phases of the 23rd Street flyover project.
State Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, said the improvements will help support promote growth for businesses and the population in the Bay County area.
“Take a look at 10 years ago, when Northwest Florida only had two four-lane arteries,” Patronis said. “You’re seeing improvements made to what the concerns are of the citizens. They don’t like gridlock, they like predictability and for businesses that want to locate here, it’s the same thing.”
Other transportation projects in the budget include $14 million for land acquisition for the State 390 road widening project, and funding for resurfacing projects on portions of U.S. 98, State 77 and State 22.
“All of those investments do nothing but create greater job opportunities in Bay County,” Patronis said.
Also surviving the governor’s veto was $5 million in funding for a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) building at Gulf Coast State College, an item that was knocked off the list by Scott last year.
GCSC President Jim Kerley said Monday he was ecstatic by the governor’s decision to include the funding.
“Last year was disappointing but I think we were still optimistic that we’d have another shot at it this year,” said Kerley, noting the current STEM building is 55 years old. “It’s a critical building for us. This is a big down payment on it that we needed.”
Last year, Scott vetoed a $14 million in funding for the building, something that prompted GCSC officials to reduce the size of the building and the size of the funding request.
“There are just not a lot of projects going in at that amount,” said Kerley, who commended local legislators for supporting the effort.
Kerley said the estimated $18 million building will work in conjunction with the college’s Advanced Technology Center to support increasing demand for jobs in science, math and technology.
“The bottom line, there are jobs there,” said Kerley, who noted GCSC intends to request more state funding in the future. “It’s a good investment for jobs.”
Also surviving Scott’s veto was a $20 million appropriation to dredge the channel at the undeveloped Port of Port St. Joe site in Gulf County, which Patronis said is the first step in developing the port.
“It’s a team effort,” Patronis said of the appropriation. “Gulf County has a deepwater port there and in order to take that deepwater port to the next level, they needed adequate dredging.”
The approved 2015 budget is the largest in state history, 3.5 percent higher than the current year budget.
Overall, Scott used his line-item veto power to eliminate about $69 million in individual spending items, which locally included $150,000 for New Horizons Learning Center, an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Center in Panama City.