New 2-year state budget estimate down by nearly $1 billion

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – March 13, 2007 – Florida’s shaky financial outlook took a turn for the worse Monday when state economists knocked nearly $1 billion out of their two-year revenue estimate for the current annual budget and the next one, which takes effect July 1.

The present budget year will be Florida’s first with a decline in general revenue from the previous year since 1974-75, said Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research.

The declines since the last revenue estimate in November are due mainly to a cooling off of Florida’s recently booming housing market, Baker said.

“We were so high last year that it’s just not sustainable,” she said. “So it doesn’t reflect economic weakness. It reflects the fact that when you have those extraordinary peaks, you can’t keep going at that speed.”