Look out, Florida lawmakers, four former governors are conducting a full-court press to convince you to resume funding the state’s farsighted land-conservation program, Florida Forever. Legislators should heed the governors’ call. Floridians need all the open space we can get.
Though Florida’s population dipped slightly this year, 19 million people live here. That’s projected to grow to 34 million by 2100. Will there be enough parks, open spaces and protected watersheds for so many?
The key to answering that question in the affirmative rests with today’s state leaders. It’s hard to take the long view when budget shortfalls are forcing everyone to tighten their belts, but courageous, visionary leadership is what’s called for now.
All it would cost to get Florida Forever back on track is an allocation of $15 million in the 2010 legislative session. That’s minuscule, but it represents a huge investment in Floridians’ future quality of life.
Last year, faced with a crushing budget deficit, the Legislature diverted Florida Forever trust-fund money to the general revenue fund. Thus, 2009 became the first time in 35 years that Florida had no new money to acquire land.
The Legislature’s decision flummoxed landowners hoping at some point to sell to the state during what has become, thanks to the bad economy, a buyer’s market. And it frustrated Florida Forever supporters, including former Democratic Govs. Reubin Askew and Bob Graham and former GOP Govs. Bob Martinez and Jeb Bush. Now, they’re co-chairing a coalition of 100-plus groups pushing for restored funding for the state’s parks and environmental lands program.
What could be more deserving of such committed bipartisan leadership than beautiful, wild Florida?
Bob Graham, a former U.S. senator and two-term governor, offers a cogent perspective: “Historically, Florida considered itself a commodity” — it was more than willing to sell off its open spaces to the highest bidder. It wasn’t until the 1960s, says Graham, that land conservation caught on.
As governor from 1979 to 1987, Graham started the Conservation and Recreational Lands (CARL) program, which morphed into today’s Florida Forever land-buying plan. The funding mechanism for CARL and its successor is a documentary stamp tax on real-estate transactions. At the height of the housing boom in 2006, the tax brought in $4 billion. But legislators capped the amount that could be spent on land acquisition to capture more for general revenue.
In 2008 the Legislature reiterated its commitment to Florida Forever, but then cynically turned around and tried to cut its funding by 90 percent. Gov. Crist vetoed that measure, but he couldn’t stop the drive in 2009 to kill the program’s funding altogether.
The acquisition money is raised by selling bonds, and all the Legislature has to do next session is appropriate $15 million to trigger the process of raising the maximum it allows for land acquisition: $300 million a year.
That money would buy some prime real estate at bargain prices, all for the public good. Florida legislators should grab this golden opportunity to burnish their legacy by increasing the state’s wild places.
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