Guest opinion: Time to take budget surplus and do one-time dedication to infrastructure

According to the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Florida grew by nearly 330,000 residents in a one-year span between April 2020 and April 2021.

Move.org also reported that in 2020 Florida was the No. 1 destination for Americans looking to relocate. 

U-Haul migration statistics from 2020 also showed that from more than 2 million customer transactions, Florida was the third most popular state.

While all this data comes from different sources, the message is the same — Florida is growing, and people are continuing to move here.

This continued growth is due in large part to our state’s leadership, who have managed the pandemic in a way that has allowed our state to stay open and on a path of advancing and progressing. Because of this, people continue to want to move here, and vacation here.

It is also thanks to our state’s leadership that we’ve succeeded well in being fiscally responsible during this time, and now Florida has a substantial budget surplus.

With this significant growth — and the budget surplus — we believe this is the right time to take that surplus and make a one-time dedication to infrastructure in the state.

Investing in our infrastructure now with a one-time appropriation will allow us to catch up on investments and projects that were deferred and get ahead of the growth that we’re continuing to see.

It also has a high return on investment for the state and for Floridians in the form of economic development, jobs and quality of life.

There’s an integral link between our state’s economy and smart investments in our infrastructure — they support and give back to one another. When our state and economy does well, it can make forward-thinking and needed investments in its infrastructure; and when it does make those infrastructure investments, they continue to support our commerce and tourism economies that utilize our infrastructure and give back by cultivating prosperity and fostering economic development.

Florida has been a leader in managing the pandemic — and now, we’re ahead, in terms of population and financially. Our state is in a great position because our leadership looked ahead of what might be coming.

We need to continue to look ahead when it comes to our infrastructure. Florida is in a great position to make a one-time appropriation to state infrastructure, and we hope that Florida lawmakers act on it this session. We all want Florida to remain the best state to work, live and play, and this appropriation is a key part of that.

Henry Mayfield is the chairman of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association Board of Directors and the vice president of M of Tallahassee, Inc.