When Is Enough Enough?
In the last session, the Florida Legislature enacted The
Florida Forever Act, which authorizes another 10-year, $3 billion plan to purchase
conservation lands. Mine was the lone vote in opposition to it and here’s why.
Florida Forever is the successor to the Preservation 2000
program, which authorized the state to issue a series of 10 bonds from 1991 to 2000. The
proceeds of the P-2000 bond sales were dedicated to the purchase of Florida property,
keeping the land in its natural state. State agencies, water management districts,
universities, cities, and counties have all acquired lands from these bonds.
By the time P-2000 ends next year, it will have brought a
total of 1.7 million acres under state control and out of productive use. In fact, by the
time P-2000 expires, its purchases will collectively equal the land area of Hillsborough,
Pasco, Pinellas, and Manatee counties.
In the next decade Florida Forever will continue with further
land acquisitions that will amount to the equivalent of Polk and Hardee counties. The
land-grabbing will occur at the rate of about 450 acres per day for 10 years.
The debate on Florida Forever begged the question, "How
much government conservation land is enough?" Currently, there is a total of 12,609
square miles of federal, state, and local conservation land in Florida, an amount equal to
19.2 percent of the state’s area. Furthermore, the water bodies of Florida, which are
also conservation areas, comprise 11,821 square miles, or 18 percent of the state. In
other words, government owns and controls 37.2 percent of Florida. Purchasing another 1.5
million acres under Florida Forever will drive the total to over 40 percent. I believe the
government currently owns enough Florida property; it doesn’t need anymore.
Turning private lands into government land removes the
property from the tax roles. In the next 10 years, these purchases will erase somewhere
between $15 to $30 million in ad valorem taxes collected annually by local governments.
By bonding these purchases we are committing to a mortgage
payout that will not be complete until the year 2030. We will spend $3 billion on land and
in excess of another $2 billion on interest. We will not pay off the current P-2000 bond
series until the year 2013. When both programs are completed they will have cost
Floridians $9.7 billion in purchases and debt service.
There was one other important public policy consideration that
shouldn’t have been ignored but was. For the last 10 years, we have been spending
anywhere from $150 to $200 million per year in Public Education Capital Outlay funds to
build new K-12 schools. At the same time, we have been spending $300 million each year to
buy swamps. I believe most people would not approve of that prioritization if they were
informed of it.
The "Buy Florida Forever Act" is a marriage made in
the heaven of environmentalists, land barons with regulated lands they cannot develop, and
all government entities yearning for turf. This blissful matrimony could not be stopped
after one decade. I only hope that the 20 years of government land-grabbing will end after
a second decade. Florida’s taxpayers and school children can’t afford it much
longer.
Rob Wallace (R-47) represents portions of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in
theFlorida House of Representatives and is an environmental engineer and small-business
owner (e-mail:wallace.rob@leg.state.fl.us).
September/October 1999 -- Florida Business Insight, PO Box 784,
Tallahassee, Fla. 32302
(850)224-7173, insight@aif.com
