By Carole Hawkins, [email protected]
The numbers show it: Florida’s real estate and builder industries are engaged in the governor’s race and, so far, they have a definite preference.
As of Oct. 1, about 1,600 Realtors and builders had contributed more than $4 million to the candidates or to their political action committees. Gov. Rick Scott’s donors outstripped former governor Charlie Crist’s by four-to-one in both headcount and dollars.
But what kind of effect will the election, in turn, have on real estate and building?
It’s not so obvious, given that Scott and Crist are spending a large portion of their campaign sound bites on attacks.
Stepping outside the vitriol, here are Scott and Crist’s performances and positions on key issues affecting the real estate and building industries: Jobs, property insurance and water quality.
For the record
Under Crist, Florida lost 830,000 jobs, and under Scott it gained 620,000, a point Scott has hammered voters with during campaign stops.
The numbers aren’t debatable, but who’s at fault is. The jobs comparison has been criticized for effectively blaming Crist for the mortgage crisis and crediting Scott with the economic recovery, when these were part of larger national forces.
What is certain is that Scott has visibly and relentlessly marketed Florida as a place to relocate businesses. The Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald, researching public records, reported there have been 342 job-creation deals involving tax breaks since Scott took office in 2011.
But, the report also showed out of the 45,258 new jobs Florida won through pledged incentives, 96 percent have yet to materialize. On the up side, Florida only awards its tax breaks, in most cases, after a company creates the jobs it has promised.
Policy
Crist: Crist’s strategy is to grow the economy by strengthening the middle class. His plan, Fair Shot Florida, calls for restoring cuts made to education, raising the minimum wage to $10.10, accepting federal dollars for Medicaid expansion, and using incentives to help small businesses.
If elected, he has promised to invest in roads, bridges and ports; reduce the cost of higher education for students in science, technology, engineering, and medicine programs; and support small businesses by providing them capital and encouraging banks to provide capital.
Scott: Scott’s strategy is to create jobs through smaller government. His 7-7-7 jobs plan calls for cutting government spending, eliminating state regulation, reducing property taxes for homeowners and phasing out the state’s business income tax.
During his term, Scott has eliminated a sales tax on manufacturing equipment, reduced the average wait for a business license from 41 days to two, and returned $500 million from the state budget to citizens, mostly by rolling back a fee increase for vehicle registration.
He’s promised to return another $1 billion from the state budget if elected to a second term.
Final word
Crist: “Rick Scott has been reaching out to large corporations outside of the state and promising them hundreds of millions of dollars for jobs. The most important thing we can do is make sure we focus on small businesses, because 95 percent of all jobs created in Florida are created by small businesses.”
Scott: “Charlie Crist thinks government creates jobs. He wants big government, more taxes and more regulations. I rely on you, the private sector. You don’t need more government. What you want is lower taxes and less regulation.”
For the record
Crist has made property insurance a campaign issue, criticizing Scott for policies that increased rates while providing less coverage for homeowners.
Scott’s goal has been to reform Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer of last resort, by making its rates more actuarially sound. That means having premium payments high enough to cover claims after a hurricane, without resorting to “hurricane” taxes, which would be levied on all insurance policies, not just Citizens’.
Policy
Crist: During his term, Crist held costs to homeowners down by temporarily freezing rates and expanding cheaper, state-sponsored reinsurance (basically insurance for insurance companies). He put in place rules that allowed customers to buy a Citizens policy if their private insurer was charging at least 15 percent more than Citizens’ rates.
He would repeal Scott’s reforms, require rates and coverage information be made public, and mandate that insurance companies pass reinsurance savings on to consumers.
Scott: Scott reduced the number of Citizens policies by working to attract more private insurers. He signed legislation that lifted a cap on rates for sinkhole coverage.
During Scott’s term, Citizens reduced its number of insured by more than 400,000 and in September, the state Office of Insurance Regulation authorized 14 insurers to assume another 425,000 Citizens policies.
Data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2013 ranked Florida as having the most expensive homeowners insurance in the nation.
Final word
Crist: “To continue to raise rates as (Scott) has done by not regulating property insurance companies is a gross disservice to the consumers of Florida.”
Scott: “By expanding Citizens Property Insurance to uncontrollable levels, Charlie left taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in liability while forcing private insurance companies out of Florida, leaving homeowners with no other options to protect their property. We did the exact opposite. We reformed and shrunk Citizens Insurance while giving consumers more choice and competition.”
For the record
Water quality became a leading issue in the Legislature this year. Scott supported the effort, though he slashed water quality funds during his early years in office.
Florida’s water quality has the potential to slow both residential and business growth.
Problems range from polluted and low-flowing freshwater springs, to algae blooms in the St. Johns River and reduced flows into the Apalachicola Bay, to damage in the Everglades and the Indian River Lagoon.
Florida’s 2013 and 2014 budgets combined spent $40 million for springs restoration, $205 million for Everglades restoration and $139 million for Florida Forever, a land-buying program that, among other things, saves areas important for recharging the underground aquifer, the main source of Florida’s drinking supply.
But in Scott’s first budget, he vetoed Florida Forever’s entire $305 million appropriation. He also cut $700 million from the budgets of the state’s water management districts, which oversee withdrawals from the aquifer. His Department of Environmental Protection ended a springs restoration initiative launched by former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Policy
Crist: Crist slams Scott for his early cuts to water quality. Though in 2009, Crist failed to fight a move by Legislature to cut funding to Florida Forever, saying it was because the economy was in poor shape.
Crist pledged to return to the environmental policies of his former term in office and said he especially would give water management districts the authority and funds needed to protect springs. He favors the Springs and Aquifer Protection Act, which would establish minimum flows for the fastest freshwater springs and limit certain activities surrounding them, including septic tanks.
Scott: In August, Scott announced his “Let’s Keep Florida Beautiful” plan, which would spend $50 million per year for 10 years on springs restoration. It would spend another $50 million per year for 10 years on alternative water supply programs, which find other sources of water besides pumping it from the ground. His program would require applicants to meet water conservation benchmarks to qualify for funding.
Final word
Crist: “We’ve heard promises from the Scott administration in this last year. They took action the first three years and they decimated the environment. That’s wrong.”
Scott: “As more industries move to and grow in Florida, the state must invest in growing Florida’s water supply through funding for alternative water supplies and focusing on conservation.”