Source: http://www.theledger.com/article/20071127/BREAKING/71127005

Published: Tuesday, November 27, 2007
By Kevin Bouffard

LAKELAND | The Florida Legislature's government watchdog has come up with six options for the future of the Florida Department of Citrus, including folding its functions into the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Tallahassee or doing away with the agency altogether.

Florida citrus growers could save $844,350 in tax money by moving marketing, research and regulatory functions at the Lakeland-based Citrus Department to the state Agriculture Department, according to a Nov. 16 report from Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which was assigned the task of reviewing the Citrus Department and recommending whether it should continue or face sunset.

Or they could save $61.8 million — the department’s current annual budget — by eliminating the citrus agency and its programs entirely.

The report makes no final recommendation to the Legislature on its preference among the six options, but it does criticize the department for failing to meet half of its legislatively mandated performance goals in its 2006-07 fiscal year, which ended on July 1.

Ken Keck, the department’s executive director, told The Ledger the criticisms were misleading.

The department set those performance goals before its fiscal year began on July 1, 2006, he said, and most of the shortfalls stemmed from the continuing impact of the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes on the state’s citrus crop and other events beyond the department’s control.

The analysis also fails to account for an estimated $30 million in lost tax revenue to local and state governments generated by the Citrus Department’s programs, Keck said.

Read more in Wednesday's Ledger.
Last modified: November 27. 2007 1:31PM