MILLIONS OF DOLLARS by voters for Amendment 1 of the Florida Constitution

To the 73% of voters for Amendment 1 in the Florida election on November 2014, note carefully where the hundreds of millions of dollars are going. It is roughly one percent of the state budget and does not have detailed provisions of how it will be spent. The governor, Department of Environmental Protection, other departments, and many of the members of the legislature have a favorite hole to bury it in. I urge citizens to make suggestions to legislators immediately and to monitor where it goes.  See the article below.

 MAITLAND, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) - If voters thought passing Amendment 1 last fall would mean hundreds of millions of dollars a year on buying up land for conservation, they were wrong.  Governor Rick Scott came to Maitland to highlight the spending in his budget on the environment, and there is much more than just land buying.

"There's clearly lands we need to buy, and we have money in the budget for that, but we've got to finish projects."

The governor is dedicating $150 million to land conservation, less than 20 percent of the expected amount of revenue doc stamps will generate and be turned over for Amendment 1 spending.  Another $150 million will go to Everglades restoration, while an additional $50 million will be used to help restore Florida's natural springs. There is so much cash to go around, longtime Scott adversary Charles Lee, of Audubon of Florida, is thrilled.

"This is a tremendous day for Florida's environment, and we at Audubon are pleased to host to governor," said Lee.

Gov. Scott did admit money will be going for many other things. For example, there may be a program where taxpayers will pay for the Department of Environmental Protection to install septic tanks for homeowners in areas like Wekiva Springs where leaks are discharging harmful nutrients into the springs.

"The DEP works right now on trying to improve deals with things like this, septic tanks to deal with that right now, and we are going to continue to work on that."The governor is also proposing $25 million in beach re-nourishment from Amendment 1 funding, perhaps not what 73 percent of voters had in mind when they approved the measure

"If you look at everything we are trying to do in the state, it's all part of the same process," said Scott.  "Let's keep all of our natural treasures, whether it's beach re-nourishment, whether it's Everglades restoration, whether it's our springs, whether it's acquiring land for conservation. All of these things fit together."

Lawmakers have the final say in the budget, and Lee said he will be watching them very closely.  He expects water and waste water projects to be inserted into the budget using the Amendment 1 funding.