News & Public Affairs
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson doesn't expect a budget agreement to come easily listen
04/09/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bill Nelson, budget, budget cuts, taxes
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson weighed in on budget proposals in the House and Senate that the two chambers of Congress likely won’t agree on. The Republican-led House is expected to pass a budget, but the Democratic Senate is likely to bat that down. Both chambers need to pass a budget before it can be signed by the President. Nelson agreed with sentiments that the budget debate will be compounded by the upcoming Presidential election.
Be the first to comment“It’s going to take a while because the politics of an...
St. Pete group calls on community involvement in the city's budget listen
03/19/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg City Council, budget, activism, People's Budget Review
Political activists launched a non-partisan initiative this morning that aims at giving citizens of St. Petersburg a louder voice in the budgeting process. On the steps of City Hall, 40 supporters of the People’s Budget Review learned details of the process that reaches out to residents to gather their ideas on how tax dollars should be spent at the city level. Christian Haas spoke about the process at a press conference.
Be the first to comment“Essentially we want to have aggregate data of the citizen’s view...
State Legislators discuss what to do about the budget
01/12/12 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida Legislature, budget, Mike Fasano, Betty Reed, Jeff Brandes, Paula Dockery, Rick Kriseman
We're going to open the phone lines in a few minutes. But first I'd like to introduce several topics. First, the state legislature began it's annual two month session on Tuesday. the major item on the agenda (as it is every session) is to draw up a new budget for the coming fiscal year. we're going to listen back to the first part of my WEDU-TV program from last Friday night on which five members of the legislature discussed the budget and the project...
Be the first to commentHART passes $100 million budget for FY2012 listen
09/27/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: HART, budget, millage rate, transit, Transportation, buses, bus rapid transit, unions, collective bargaining
Yesterday the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, or HART, approved a 100 million dollar budget for the next fiscal year. Members of the transit union gave up on demands for a wage increase, as well as a separate step increase. The Board also voted unanimously to raise the millage rate slightly to half a mil.
The HART Board of Directors has been torn between maintai...
Be the first to commentHART proposes reducing budget, yet increasing tax rate listen
08/22/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: HART, budget, Transportation, transit, transportation funding, millage rate
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority plans to increase the millage rate on a typical property owner by about 41 cents per year. That’s even though HART’s overall proposed budget is being reduced by 3.2 percent. Director of planning Mary Shavalier said a decrease in revenue from property taxes is making matters more difficult.
And Shavalier said HART may partner with other organizations to compensate for any additional service needs around the county. ...
Be the first to commentCongress reaches a deal to raise the debt limit, but will it pass a vote? listen
08/01/11 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: debt, debt ceiling, budget, budget cuts, Barack Obama, FCAN, Marco Rubio, Bill Nelson
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders from both major parties have come to an agreement on a proposed budget deal that would cut trillions of federal dollars from the national budget over the next decade. The deal will increase the borrowing limit, preventing the government from defaulting on it’s debt for the first time in history. The measure would extend the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by up to $2.4 trillion a...
Be the first to commentTampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn presents 2012 budget to City Council listen
07/28/11 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: budget, budget cuts, budget deficit, Tampa, Tampa City Council, Tampa government, Bob Buckhorn
This morning, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn presented his preliminary city budget for fiscal year 2012. This is the new mayor’s first proposed budget. Buckhorn pitched the budget to the City Council in downtown.
Mayor Buckhorn has been saddled with the task of eliminating a $34.5 million shortfall in next year’s budget; a challenge he plans to meet without layoffs, raised property taxes, or reduced public services. But he said that he owes a great deal to ...
Be the first to commentHillsborough citizens speak out against after school program reductions listen
07/22/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County School Board, budget, Mike Merrill, parks and recreation
Once again, Hillsborough County officials have had to grapple with some tough budget decisions this year. The county faces a $566 million reduction from last year’s budget due to a fall in property and sales tax revenues. The proposed county budget reflects some pretty tough cuts, and not everyone’s happy about them.
Nearly 75 people signed up to speak their minds before the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners, and nearly 300 attended. Many in attendance were well under five feet ta...
5 commentsHillsborough slogs through budget, capital costs see two-thirds cut listen
07/13/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County Commission, Hillsborough County, budget, Mike Merrill, public defender
Hillsborough County officials are rounding out another tough budget process to plan for the next two years. For the most part the picture isn’t as dire as it has been in recent years, but programs like public art and after school activities still face tough cuts.
Next year’s draft operating budget totals nearly $3 billion – that’s nearly half a billion less than that of last year. County Administrator Mike Merrill said declining property tax revenue is a major factor, which means that some...
Be the first to commentRick Scott signs Florida budget, slashes $600 million in line-item vetoes listen
05/26/11 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: media, Rick Scott, TBARTA, USF, budget, 2011 Legislative session, veto
Republican Governor Rick Scott signed the state budget today. Florida lawmakers had cut nearly $4 billion from the budget for next fiscal year. But today in a private Republican Party of Florida event at The Villages, Scott announced he had vetoed $615 million in line items.
10 comments"There were 3,036 line items in the budget. 3,036. I know this because I looked at every single line item in the budget, and it took quite a ...
