WINTER HAVEN -- The $48.6 billion state budget signed into law Thursday included millions of dollars allocated for local projects from cultural and educational funding to historical property renovations and road improvements.
All of the county's historical projects were approved for funding. They include projects at the Ritz Theatre, the Clay Cut Center, the Lake Wales School Complex, the Old Frostproof High School and the Polk County Science Building. Bok Tower Gardens also received part of its funding request for three new carillon bells at the tower.
Project supporters waited in anticipation Thursday to learn if their projects would be included in the state budget or fall victim to Bush's veto. The county is slated to receive approximately $30 million, about $17 million of which will be used for road improvements.
Just three of the 29 county projects were vetoed. They included a $300,000 request from city officials to fund a pavilion at the Winter Haven Farmer's Market, a $69,808 request from Bok Tower Gardens to enhance an endangered species program, and a $300,000 funding request from the county's agricultural center.
Winter Haven City Manager Carl Cheatham said the city will try again next year to get funding for the Farmers Market.
"We weren't even appropriated in the final budget last year and this year it went further, but I'm sorry it didn't survive the budget process," he said.
The Farmers Market was deemed an economic revitalization project that would have cost taxpayers $300,000 for a covered pavilion to house the vendors. The plan also involved moving the Farmer's Market one block north to Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
The park itself is another target for improvement, and Bush apparently saw merit in a $100,000 expansion plan for the west side of the park.
Marie Gainer, assistant to the leisure services director, said the plan includes 1,575 feet of sidewalks, a basketball court, volleyball court, a modular playground, two fishing docks, a boat ramp, and 16 picnic tables under a covered pavilion.
"We are really excited about the park," Gainer said. "The passive side will remain and won't be affected, there will just be another side of the park that's for the more active."
Supporters of the Ritz Theatre in Winter Haven will receive their requested $249,000 for the first phase of restoration. Main Street Director Ronni Wood is excited about the project, which she estimates will take about three years. Wood sent letters to express support for the project, but expressed optimism Thursday about the chances of avoiding a veto.
"I made phone calls and was reassured by the state Bureau of Historical Properties that our historical projects were safe," she said. "There has been a great deal of community interest and a sort of nostalgia about that building. It has made the community proud since it opened in 1925."
The Ritz's original use was to show silent and vaudeville movies. It remained a theater until the 1980s when age and competition forced its doors to close. In 1989, it reopened as a teen dance club, but closed again three to four years later. "It then remained unused and neglected for about three years," Wood said.
A group of concerned residents formed for the sole purpose of saving the theater from its ultimate fate of becoming a city parking lot, Wood said. The Ritz 100 organization raised money to purchased the building and is now working to restore it. Upon completion, the theater will have varied uses for children and adults of the community.
In Lake Wales, representatives supporting The Bok Tower Garden Carillon asked for $270,780 as a way to continue an active endangered species program and add three bells to the carillons. Bok Tower Spokesperson Karen Haggerty said the funds will allow them to work with more conservation groups. The bells were approved as part of a historical grant, but the plant program was nixed.
Frostproof's Historical Restoration Committee will receive $350,000 to continue renovation of an auditorium that will eventually be used for school performances, among other events.
Haines City's will receive the funds needed to complete the final restoration stage of the Clay Cut Center.
"The restoration of that community center has been part of a longstanding restoration commitment from the community," state Rep. Lori Edwards (D-Auburndale) said. "Not just in funding, but elbow grease and moral support."
Edwards expressed confidence earlier this month with the county's funding requests.
"They are all routine. There are no 'turkeys' on our county's section," she had said. Edwards deemed transportation as the most important issue.
"On U.S.(Highway) 27 and (U.S.) 17-92, we are on the brink of a major safety emergency," she added. All of those road improvement projects were approved.
Thursday at midnight marked Bush's deadline to veto line items he deemed budget "turkeys" -- the Florida equivalent of pork barrel spending. The governor vetoed more than $300 million in special projects across the state.
Florida Tax Watch Inc., a Tallahassee based tax watchdog group, labeled just one Polk program a turkey the proposed $275,000 Hidden Lakes stormwater drainage program. But that program was approved by the governor.
