Gov. Rick Scott to ‘act in taxpayers’ best interest’ with state budget

Prior to stopping in Manatee County, Gov. Rick Scott said he spent three hours Wednesday morning reviewing the budget.

While the governor has yet to formally receive the $82.4 billion state budget, Scott said his office has been reviewing the budget.

“This year the budget was done sort of behind closed doors in secret,” Scott said at Honeycomb Company of America, Inc., 1950 Limbus Ave., Sarasota. “My options are I can veto the whole budget, I can veto any section of the budget or I can veto any line in the budget, so I am going to act in the taxpayers’ best interest in the state by reviewing every line.”

With respect to the controversial K-12 public schools bill House Republicans pushed through at the end of session, Scott said he’s “been hearing a lot.”

“It’s important to continue to fund it, so it’s one of the things I’m reviewing in this budget to make sure that we fully fund our education system,” Scott said.

Scott’s visit to the Manatee County company, which added 12 jobs in the last year to increase the total number of jobs to more than 100, was largely focused on the importance of Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida.

“Unfortunately, this year the politicians in Tallahassee turned their backs on job creation in the state through Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida,” Scott said.

Scott specifically called out Rep. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who was in attendance Wednesday, as one of the legislators who didn’t turn their backs.

“This year in the Legislature, we certainly didn’t recognize the priorities of the governor,” Gruters said. “To me, it was a major oversight. It is going to cost Florida jobs long term, but with (the governor’s) focus, I know (the governor has) things in store, I think we are eventually going to get the funding.”

Highlighting the creation of more than 1.3 million private sector jobs in the last six years, Scott said every job is important.

“It is very important that the politicians in Tallahassee don’t forget that the No. 1 thing that a family cares about is jobs,” he said.

Elections matter, said Scott, who has previously said he’s not ruled out a U.S. Senate run against Sen. Bill Nelson.

“It really matters who you elect,” Scott said. “It matters who you elect locally. It matters who you elect to go to Tallahassee. It matters who you elect to go to Washington, D.C.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Gov. Rick Scott to ‘act in taxpayers’ best interest’ with state budget."