By: Editorial Board, Naples Daily News | Naples Daily News
The campaign for three Naples City Council seats enters its final week and the Florida Legislature inches toward the halfway point of the 2018 session with House and Senate budgets now in hand to reconcile.
Those are highlights of the week ahead in government, with most local elected boards in Southwest Florida not scheduled to meet.
Naples election
Three seats on the seven-member Naples council are up for election Feb. 6. Elections now typically offer early voting, but the current council prudently chose not to spend extra money to keep a polling site staffed and open for several days for this election.
Voters who don’t want to go to a polling site next Tuesday still have the option of a mail-in ballot.
A Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office news release says the deadline for a registered voter in Naples to request a ballot to vote by mail is 5 p.m. Wednesday. Those ballots must be received by the elections office (not just postmarked) by 7 p.m. on Feb. 6. The news release states that the U.S. Postal Service recommends a week’s mailing time to have the ballot returned “to account for any unforeseen events such as weather issues” and for processing by elections staff. More information: www.CollierVotes.com or 239-252-VOTE.
The four candidates in the nonpartisan election are incumbent Linda Penniman, former councilman Gary Price, businessman Terry Hutchison and real estate broker Mitch Norgart. Naples council members don’t represent districts so the three with the most votes win.
The Daily News editorial board endorses Penniman, Price and Hutchison.
Legislature, budget
The 2018 session opened in early January and will reach its halfway point in early February toward a scheduled March 9 adjournment.
The Legislature is required to adopt a budget. House and Senate proposed spending plans were released last week. Gov. Rick Scott’s suggested annual budget came out weeks ago.
Superficially, it would appear the budgets could be reconciled quickly without the need for extending the session. Scott proposed $87.4 billion, the Senate $87.3 billion and the House $87.2 billion.
Yet the apportionment differs, particularly for two key concerns affecting Southwest Florida – affordable housing trust funds and higher education.
In 1992, the state set up affordable housing trust funds supported by a portion of documentary stamp taxes on real estate transactions. Much of that money is then distributed back to cities and counties for housing programs. Since the Great Recession, the Legislature has substantially raided the trust fund allocations to balance the budget. We’ve urged passage of bipartisan Senate Bill 874 by state Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, to stop the raids.
The Orlando Sentinel reported the Senate budget keeps the expected full $308 million intact, as SB 874 provides, but the House plan diverts nearly $200 million to other spending. Scott’s proposal redirected nearly $92 million.
Another significant budget difference between the chambers relates to university and college spending. This comes as Florida Gulf Coast University remains behind older state universities in base per-student funding.
News reports put the House and Senate higher education budgets more than $600 million apart. The Tampa Bay Times further broke that down: the Senate is looking at a $383 million spending increase for universities and colleges; the House proposes a $217 million cut from universities and an overall reduction of $45 million for colleges.
Also of note
+ With its attorney retiring, the Lee County School Board meets at noon Tuesday to discuss how to move forward. Lee’s district has a board attorney, staff lawyer and utilizes outside counsel.
Article last accessed here on January 31, 2018. A print-ready version is available here.