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Oct 11, 2008 5:11 pm US/Eastern
Florida Economists Have Bleak Outlook Of Future
TALLAHASSEE (AP) ―
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Florida's Legislature will most likely have to deal with deficits for another year.
CBS
Florida economists are painting a more pessimistic picture of the state's economy than the one they described months ago.
When the Economic Estimating Conference met in July, members forecast the states economy would begin turning around at the end of 2009. That's six months longer than originally expected.
Now, the same group of economists says the economy may need another year to get back on its feet. The Conference met in Tallahassee Friday to discuss how things are expected to go.
"Things will improve," legislative economist Amy Baker said Friday, "It's just going to take a while to get there. You're talking at least a year to two years before things get back to what we consider normal."
Baker says the recovery will take longer because Florida's economy is based on tourism. "Since Florida is so dependent on consumer sentiment and people's ability to spend money, consumers, which are the backbone of our economy, then we thought we needed to take some steps to make it a bit more pessimistic than what we started with."
Baker said the state will likely face continuing budget deficits, meaning more trouble for state leaders in the future. In the current fiscal year, Florida is dealing with a $1.8 billion deficit. Next year's deficit is already estimated at $2.2 billion.
Florida's economic downturn began in 2007, when an extended housing boom came to a screeching halt. The boom was backed by the repairs and replacement of homes damaged by hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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