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Published Monday, March 5, 2007 Low Sales Tax Revenues Pinch Community Funds By Bill Rufty The Ledger LAKELAND Last year might be a great example to legislators of the boom and bust nature of sales tax revenues. After two years of increased sales taxes from all the rebuilding in the wake of major hurricane strikes in 2004 and 2005 and the final days of the building boom, sales tax revenues have dropped from $150 million to $175 million lower than expected in 2006. That means less bacon for legislators to bring home to their communities. "We've been told there will be no community budget requests funded unless the council over that particular request wants to cut something else from its budget to fund it," said Rep. Seth McKeel. The needs are powerful. Just look at the requests from one Polk County legislator alone, Rep. Dennis Ross, most of which, he said, will not receive any money this session: Facilitating Agriculture Resource Management System. Nursing Education at Florida Southern College. Noah's Landing. Polk County Association for Handicapped Citizens, Inc. Education and Vocational Training Center. Family Intensive Treatment Team. Recovery Services Complex at the Peace River Center. Phoenix Counseling and Resource Center. Polk City - Phase I of a wastewater treatment facility. Lakeland Urban Lake Restoration Initiative. And other members of the delegation have even more requests for important and vital projects for their communities. But they likely will concentrate on their bills and on local issues that don't require state money. McKeel has filed one of the few local bills, which will separate the Lakeland pension and civil service boards into two entities. Right now the same members serve on both boards. "The functions are very different," McKeel said. "You have the human side and then the pension side that is responsible for investing money. The combined board members is an antiquated system and not very functional." Despite the shortage of money, Rep. Baxter Troutman, R-Winter Haven, said he thinks it will be a productive session, with the two big issues remaining being insurance and property tax. "We pretty much tackled property insurance in the special session, at least we have put a big old fat Band-Aid on it. We need to take care of the real estate (property) tax and health care and education funding," Baxter said. Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, expects to have a bill she is running for Gov. Charlie Crist passed by the Senate on Tuesday, the first day of the session. Designated as Senate Bill 146, the bill would allow violent felony offenders who violate their paroles to be held without bail until a court hearing is held to determine if they should be re-imprisoned. It is has been designated as the Anti-Murder Bill because of recent incidents of murders and other violent crimes committed by felons who violated their paroles but were allowed to be free until a hearing. Some were never arrested for parole violations in the first place. Dockery filed the bill for Crist last year while he was attorney general, but this year the momentum is sure to send it all the way to his desk to be among the first bills to be signed into law. She also has two more bills that Crist asked her to file: a bill requiring a paper trail for all elections and an adoption bill that would offer financial help to foster families that want to adopt their foster children. Ross said because of the lack of money for community projects there will be more concentration on bills. In the House it will be on Speaker Marco Rubio's "100 Ideas." "And I think the bill to do away with property tax will go to the floor (of the House) in three weeks and will be negotiated for three weeks before getting to the Senate floor," he said. "You also may see more user tax roads - toll roads - in order to get needed major highways built. And we are going put more money into prisons, a priority of the governor. But the key issue will be removing property tax, that's what's selling right now," said Ross, a skeptic of the proposal. Ledger Political Editor Bill Rufty can be reached at bill.rufty @theledger.com or at 802-7523.