Ponte Vedra Recorder July 2, 2015 Community News 5

Rick Scott visits First Coast on state tourJordan E. FerrellSpecial to the Recorder

Florida Governor Rick Scott made the sixth stop on his 12-hour Keep Florida Working tax cut victory tour on Monday, June 22 at the Mudville Grille in Jacksonville, Fla.

A large crowd packed into the sports bar off of Monument Road to cheer on the incumbent as he touted his $428.9 million tax cut bill, which was attached to the recently approved Keep Florida Working 2015-16 budget.

After a meet and greet with restau-rant owner Louis Joseph, Scott took the stage among Duval County Congress-men ( Janet Adkins, Jay Fant, Chuck McBurney, Lake Ray), Jacksonville City Council Members (Anna Brosche, Don Redman, Matt Schellenberg, Clay Yar-borough), Florida Senator Aaron Bean and Jacksonville Mayor-elect Lenny Curry. Scott addressed the crowd by echoing sentiments he has heard over the past few years regarding less taxes, less state (employee) revenues and fewer business regulations.

What we have to do is make sure you get some of your money back, each and every year, said Scott. Weve cut taxes 40 times, not including this year. We cut $500 million last year.

One of the major cuts Scott touched on was the 1.73 percent decrease in mobile phone and TV taxes, which equates to $226.1 million annually. Scott reminded onlookers that when he took offi ce, the state was at a near $400 billion budget defi cit, but thanks to his aggressive tax cut initiative he has brought the state to a $1 billion surplus.

If you look at nationwide trends, Florida is already leading the country in employment, said UNF student and member of the Republican Party of

Duval County, Andrew Moss. When you are cutting taxes you are going to stimulate that growth. Its a win-win for the businesses and for the consumers in Florida.

Another major cut that Scott made through the new budget is the elimina-tion of sales tax on college textbooks for one year. This cut will reportedly save students $40 million. Scott men-tioned that he has strived to control tuition increases, and in doing so has cut the cost of prepaid plans here in Florida in half.

Through the new budget Scott also made provisions for Floridas younger students. According to the transmittal letter that Scott signed on June 23, the state of Florid has set a new record with $19.7 billion in public school funding, the highest its ever been in the history of Florida and a three

percent increase per student from last year.

Probably the most relevant compo-nent to the tax cut bill for those who showed up that afternoon was the slat-ed $88.6 million in tax cuts that Florida businesses will see over the next fi ve years. This initiative will increase tax credits already available for those that conduct research and development, community contribution or brown-fi eld redevelopment. This tax cut will also grant an extension to businesses that have recently been established in zones that are qualifi ed for the Florida Enterprise Zone program.

While the Keep Florida Working budget with attached tax cuts was an overall success for Florida, its likely that not all of Scotts constituents were pleased with the $461 million in re-quested funds that he vetoed before

signing the bill just hours after his vic-tory tour came to an end.

After 70 pages of heavy-handed bu-reaucratic justifi cation, St. Johns County made out with a loss of $3 million in requested fundsless than the nearly $15 million vetoed in Duval County.

The $1 million requested by the University of Florida for Historic St. Augustine Property preservation and education materials was vetoed, along with a $2 million request for the res-toration of the Ponce de Leon Hotel at Flagler College. According to the transmittal letter, both of these projects were denied for not going through the established competitive review process that ranks and fi les projects based on calculated outcomes.

It wasnt all red ink for St. Johns County though. Scott approved the requested $305,500 for South Ponte Vedra, Vilano and Summerhaven Beach restorations as well as $100,000 re-quested for maintenance and repair of the state-owned St. Augustine Veterans Home.

Photos by Jordan E. Ferrell / Special to the RecorderThrough the newly approved budget, Governor Rick Scott has made provisions for a 1.73 percent decrease in cellphone and TV taxes, which equates to $226.1 million annually.

Governor Rick Scott with Mud-ville Grille owner Louis Joseph

and his family.

I think this is big, said Joseph. What he has done is great. Ev-ery little bit helps. To take taxes off of TV and cellphones, it puts

it [money] back into citizens pockets and in return they can

spend it with us or another small business.

Joseph said he has personally seen his business increase over

the past three years and owes that to the budget, which Scott

has engineered.

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