TALLAHASSEE — Florida's 90,000 state workers gained a big win Monday as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed next year's state budget into law two days before the mandatory deadline, sparing their 3% pay raise from his veto pen.
"We were able to make the numbers work," DeSantis told reporters at a Capitol news conference about the now $92.2 billion budget. "I wouldn't have done it if the numbers didn’t work."
The $249 million pay-raise package covers all state workers, including nearly 23,000 in Leon, Gadsden, and Wakulla counties. The funding also covers a 7% increase in health insurance premiums and pension contributions.
In all, the governor slashed over $1 billion — half from general revenue and half from trust funds — from the Legislature's previously approved $93.2 billion budget to make up for plummeting revenues created by COVID-19's devastating impact on the state's economy. The budget goes into effect Wednesday.
More than $550 million of those cuts are vetoes of items he had included in his own recommended budget sent to lawmakers last fall, before the impact of the coronavirus on state revenues.
"As reality changes, we all have to recognize that none of us are going to get what we want," DeSantis said.
He praised the Legislature and his own budget staff for preserving a teacher pay raise and environmental preservation funding while ensuring a stable economic foundation for the future.
Two weeks ago, when the state budget first hit his desk, DeSantis said to expect "a lot of red ink," comparing it to the Red Wedding massacre in the popular "Game of Thrones" series on HBO. The $93.2 billion budget approved by the Legislature was crafted before the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic was fully known.
Projections of state revenue dropped by $2.35 billion during the first three months of the pandemic. That deficit is expected to continue to grow.
But DeSantis and legislative leaders have said they planned to shore up those deficits using the state's $4 billion reserve and another $4.6 billion from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Also preserved from cuts was a $500 million block reserved for increasing teacher pay. DeSantis last week signed a bill increasing annual pay for all starting teachers to $47,500.
Florida TaxWatch, a business-backed state spending watchdog, had called for delaying teacher and state worker raises, but only if the budget shortfall couldn't be resolved through any other means.
In 2013 and 2017, state workers earning less than $40,000 per year received a $1,000 raise and those making less than $40,000 received a $1,400 increase. But workers also lost 3% of their pay by a mandated pension contribution in 2011.
More: DeSantis nails down pay increases for Florida teachers
State Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, who is term-limited from office at the end of this year, spent years working on getting raises for both teachers and state workers, and was optimistic those items would survive the veto pen.
"The leadership of the state realizes the importance of the teaching profession and the contribution of its state workers," said Montford, a former high school principal and schools superintendent who is CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.
State Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, thanked DeSantis on Twitter "for keeping the state employee pay raise and recognizing those who are keeping our state running during these unprecedented times."
This is a developing story. Check back for complete coverage of local impact on the governor's vetoes.
Contact Jeff Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.
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Big win for state workers as pay raise survives Florida governor's veto, coronavirus cuts - Tallahassee Democrat
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