A legislative panel on Friday approved money for more than 230 local projects and programs across the state, including three in Brevard County.

After receiving a detailed analysis of Florida’s financial picture from a top economist, the Joint Legislative Budget Commission signed off on a list of “local support grants” totaling $175 million.

The grants are a new program, with the list put together after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed parts of a state budget that took effect July 1.

“As inflation is affecting these not-for-profits (organizations) … people saw that there were opportunities within their communities that maybe needed some help,” House Appropriations Chairman Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, said after Friday’s meeting. Trumbull said the items on the list were focused on assisting local governments, educational entities or privately operated programs that support local initiatives.

In Brevard, the grants funded projects at Port Canaveral and Satellite Beach, as well as providing support for Circles of Care.

Port Canaveral received a $760,000 grant for a major improvement project at its Jetty Park complex. The port will provide $190,000 in matching funds for the project.

The grant request was sponsored by Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay.

The grant will help fund pavilion renovation that includes external repairs to the building structure and internal upgrades throughout, including modifications to convert former kitchen space to office and conference space. The project also will create a retail concession area with storage.

Also, 23 unimproved campsites with only potable water will be upgraded with concrete slabs for recreational vehicle parking and electrical pedestals for power to the RVs.

The application said the park pavilion renovations will repair storm damage; add office space for operations staff; and create a retail concession area to lease to small-business operator.

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Jetty Park is a 46-acre oceanfront public park, and a popular tourism destination for Florida residents and out-of-state visitors, particularly for its prime viewing location for rocket launches. It has a 1,200-foot-long fishing pier, a beach, playgrounds, picnic pavilions and a 188-site campground.

A 2018 study found that Jetty Park overnight visitors spend an average of 5.09 nights there, with 75% staying in RVs. On average, these visitors spend about $700 during their stay, with 44% visiting various sites on the Space Coast, including Cocoa Beach and Kennedy Space Center.

Circles of Care received a $700,000 grant for expansion of its services at its central receiving facility at 880 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Melbourne.

Fine also sponsored that proposal.

Circles of Care President David Feldman said Circles of Care works with so-called Baker Act patients who are "mentally ill, and a danger to themselves or others."

According to the grant application, "the funding will expand the existing central receiving facility in Brevard County that is currently funded at $406,000. The funding will expand emergency mental health and substance abuse crisis services in order to continue to treat psychiatric emergencies in the least restrictive environment possible."

The application indicated that a chief goal of the grant "is to address the gap in services" that resulted from the permanently closing of 24 inpatient psychiatric beds at Rockledge Regional Medical Center.

Feldman said the grant will help Circles of Care in its efforts "to manage the census of patients as best we can."

The biggest portion of the grant — $468,305 — will pay for direct care program staffing salaries and benefits, including for psychiatry, counseling, nursing, pharmacy, social work and psychology services.

The grant application said among the benefits of the grant will be to "reduce Baker Act patients waiting in general medical/surgical emergency departments and hospital floors. Expanding capacity will reduce the number of individuals waiting more than eight hours for transfer to a psychiatric hospital."

The state awarded Satellite Beach $441,385 (94.6%) of the funding for $466,385 project to add Biosorption Activated Materials — or BAM —  in three areas of the city to improve water quality, with the other $25,000 from local funding.

The grant request was sponsored by Rep. Thad Altman, R-Indialantic.

BAM filters use different soil-type layers and media as filters to maximize nitrogen and phosphorus removal from stormwater ditches, ponds and swales.  

"The BAM filters will work to enhance nutrient removal, particularly total nitrogen and total phosphorus, from water that will eventually run off into the Indian River Lagoon," the local support grant request stated. "The three locations are the south ditch swales, the sports park ditch and the Jamaica pond."

The city's stormwater master plan is geared to replace elements of the city's stormwater infrastructure to help remove contaminants from flowing into the Indian River Lagoon.

The BAM will reduce nitrogen and phosphorus into the lagoon, preventing excess algae and promoting seagrass growth, city officials asserted in the grant request.

Completion of the project is expected by Dec. 31, 2023.

Money for the new grant program was included in the budget.

Republican lawmakers proposed nearly 200 of the spending items on the list.

The Joint Legislative Budget Commission, made up of House and Senate members, has authority to make midyear spending decisions.

Florida has experienced higher-than-anticipated revenue collections for more than a year — with it being $3.85 billion overestimates for the 2021-22 budget year, which ended June 30. 

That was driven, at least in part, by increased consumer spending of money saved during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But during Friday’s meeting, Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research, indicated that long-term financial projections may not be as rosy for Florida. Baker pointed to mixed signals in the economy, which is affecting expectations of a “soft landing” in a pending recession.

“There are a growing number of economists, including a big study that came out yesterday, that are saying it's not going to be a soft landing, the Fed is going to have to take much stronger action than originally envisioned,” Baker told lawmakers. “And so, there is a disagreement between the economists on where we're going to end up.”

Florida’s real-estate market could slow, as mortgage rates rise and housing-affordability issues increase.

Economists forecast that revenue generated through documentary-stamp taxes on real estate transactions will decline 15.6% this fiscal year and 10.7% in 2023-24.

Jim Turner of The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman.

Jim Waymer is an environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Waymer at 321-261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Or find him on Twitter: @JWayEnviro or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.waymer

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