State funding unclear for Moffitt, Byrd centers

Catherine Dolinski

May 1, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- TALLAHASSEE -- Budget talks at the Capitol remain dicey for Tampa's H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and dire for the city's Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute, with the latter failing so far to win any funding.

Negotiations over 2009-10 state spending continue, and anything remains possible. But the bad news for the Byrd Institute has only gotten worse, with its proposed funding whittled from a meager $100,000 down to zero.

That $100,000 was a far cry from the $5 million the center's leaders say it needs to maintain its prestigious federal designation as a National Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. But the funding proposal at least made Byrd part of final budget negotiations.

Thursday, Nan Rich, vice chairwoman of the Senate's health care budget committee, confirmed: "There's no money for the Byrd center. I think it's pretty much agreed."

House Health Care Appropriations Chairman Kevin Ambler, R-Lutz, said Thursday that the Hillsborough County delegation hasn't given up.

"It has profound impacts on the community and on the state in terms of our ability to draw down national research dollars," he said.

But Rich, R-Sunrise, alluded to controversy that for years has swirled around the Byrd Institute over governance, spending and other issues. "It was just decided that because of the previous issues that was not the place where the money would go in a year like this."

The Moffitt center fared better Thursday, when the House proposed giving it $20 million of expected revenue from a $1-a-pack increase in the state's cigarette tax.

Moffitt, which seeks money to pay for its $371 million campus expansion, once enjoyed annual funding for capital projects, but lawmakers allowed that arrangement to expire last year. This spring, the House and Senate have agreed to spend $50 million expected from increasing the cigarette tax on cancer research.

Whether the Senate will agree to spending $20 million of that on the Moffitt center remains to be seen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, who oversees health care spending in the Senate, said Senate leaders are leaning toward spending the money on peer-reviewed statewide grant programs for research.

"We're hopeful that ... Moffitt will receive the resources we need, not only for treatment and research, but also be a bondable source of income that we've been seeking so that we can complete the construction of the campus of the Moffitt Research Park," said Jamie Wilson, lobbyist for the cancer center.

The health care budget chairmen are leaving the issue to their respective chambers' budget chiefs for resolution.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0201-34576493