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Margate Lobbyist Returns with News
• Budget, Budget, Budget...higher fees
Thursday,
May 7, 2009
In a Florida legislative session consumed by budget talks and spackled with higher fees, Margate got a few things, said Margate Lobbyist, Jack Tobin. Tobin spends the majority of session in Tallahassee rallying against policies proposed by lawmakers that could negatively impact Margate. He says it's one of his most ‘intense’ sessions yet.
“This is the worst legislature in Tallahassee I’ve seen in the 27 years I’ve been doing this,” Tobin told Margate City Commissioners Wednesday night. “A lot of these former city commissioners forget where they came from.”
Tobin referred to newer lawmakers in Tallahassee hell-bent on increasing fees and taxes at the local level, many of which he and his colleagues were able to fend off, he said. Tobin mentioned two victories for Margate. The first, we get to keep our fire department – as a looming fire service bill was crushed. Second, Margate will get something from the Seminole Compact, we’re just not sure how much.
“We started at $1 million and ended up attaching a fixed number of $250,000 that Margate would get to ease the impact of Seminole activities,” Tobin said.
Tobin said the session was extended into overtime for a week to specifically address the budget and the Seminole Compact. Decision makers finally agreed on a $66.5 billion budget for the state, a budget that started off “$6 billion in the red,” Tobin said.
“Without Passing the Seminole Compact, they wouldn’t have been able to balance the budget.”
Sidebar: The Seminole Compact authorizes table games (blackjack, baccarat, etc.) at the Coconut Creek Casino and others in exchange for $150 million for ‘Florida schools.’ The tribe has already been offering the games at select locations under the Compact but has been putting the money in escrow until a final decision was made by the state. Accordingly, the state would receive $228 million in year one.
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Copyright Cassius Group 2009
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