Editorial: Scott budget more political than pragmatic, but helps coasts

It’s easy to be cynical about Gov. Rick Scott’s final budget.

The one-time tea party darling who swept into office seven years ago on promises to slash spending has shifted focus. Scott’s 2018 spending plan, unveiled this past week, would go about “Securing Florida’s Future” by spending a record $87.4 billion, including major increases to education and the environment.

There’s a little something for everyone. And perhaps this represents a natural evolution for Scott. Perhaps he has grown more empathetic over the years.

Or perhaps he’s greasing the skids for his much-anticipated run for Democrat Bill Nelson’s U.S. Senate seat.

Regardless, what prevents us from being too cynical about Scott’s proposal is the fact it offers quite a bit for Florida’s coasts.

As such, many of Scott’s suggestions are ones we hope our local legislative delegation can support.

For example, Scott has proposed an additional $227 million for the Department of Environmental Protection, money which could help the department fund a variety of Everglades restoration projects — including $64 million for the proposed reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee to help alleviate discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

The DEP, which hopes to spend a total of $305.8 million on Everglades restoration projects — the most in the agency’s history — would put in millions more toward projects that would benefit the coasts:

+ $10 million for a pump station to send more water to Everglades National Park.

+ $16 million to complete the Lakeside Ranch Stormwater Treatment Area in western Martin County.

+ $5 million to the South Florida Water Management District for dispersed water management projects.

Battered by bad water, our state needs these projects to progress — and Scott’s proposed environmental expenditures could ensure they do.

Beaches and more

Scott also would allocate a record $100 million toward beach restoration projects, including $50 million designed to repair damage caused by Hurricane Irma.

While we also might be cynical about the long-term efficacy of beach restoration, there’s little doubt that Florida tourism, and to a large extent our coastal tourism industry, relies on healthy beaches. Those beaches really were hit hard by Irma, and the funding could be of significant help.

Moreover, so could a new state program called the Florida Resilient Coastline Initiative, which would help educate local governments on coastal resilience projects and aid them in planning for sea level rise. This worthwhile measure would receive $3.6 million.

And while Scott has proposed spending $50 million on the Florida Forever program, the state’s primary land acquisition program, a state Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee already has voted — unanimously — to spend twice that.

This, after Florida Forever got nothing during this year’s legislative session, alarming and infuriating environmentalists.

Elsewhere in Scott’s budget, his proposed $770 million increase for K-12 education would boost per-student spending, though much of this funding would come from increased local property tax revenue. Critics already are characterizing this as a tax increase.

This correctly suggests that as appealing as Scott’s budget might be to certain constituencies, it’s a mere starting point. The spending plan ultimately passed into law could bear little resemblance to the plan he unveiled.

Nonetheless, and despite some concerns that Scott has painted too rosy a picture of the state’s finances, we’re encouraged to see Florida’s needs given precedence over even further tax-cutting fervor in the governor’s final budget.

It might not be representative of Scott’s tenure. But, at this point, we’ll take what we can get.

Treasure Coast Newspapers and the Naples Daily News are part of the USA TODAY NETWORK Florida.