TALLAHASSEE, FLA.—As part of proposed budget cuts for the coming year, the State of Florida is suggesting a major reduction in the size of the Florida Green Lodging Program. If the cuts are approved, four full-time employees (three in Tallahassee and one in the Central District) would lose their jobs. According to Peter Goren, program director for Florida Green Lodging, two half-time positions would also be eliminated in Jacksonville and Fort Myers. One full-time employee would be retained to serve as the sole source for technical assistance for Florida properties wishing to participate in the program that now has almost 900 hotels participating as either Designated Green Lodging Properties or Green Lodging Applicants.
The Florida Green Lodging Program is unique because of its on-site inspection component. Many states that have green lodging programs do not require on-site inspections. On-site inspections would be eliminated as part of the budget cuts and Florida Green Lodging would become a program through which properties certify themselves.
Florida’s state government was required to submit budget cuts to the governor’s office in an attempt to balance the budget. The fate of the Green Lodging Program has yet to be decided by the state legislature and the governor. Goren says he should know by the summer whether positions will be eliminated. Governor Crist could decide to remove the reduction from the budget. Goren says he is hopeful about the program’s chances.
“It is not sounding like the cuts are going to happen,” he says.
In the last two years, participation in the Florida Green Lodging Program has increased significantly. Growth was sparked by Governor Charlie Crist’s 2007 Executive Orders and 2008’s House Bill 7135 which requires all state agencies to contract with hotels that have received the Florida Green Lodging Program designation.
The Florida Green Lodging Program was established in 2004 by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with the intent of recognizing and rewarding environmentally conscientious lodging facilities in the state. Through this rapidly growing program DEP encourages the lodging industry to conserve and protect Florida’s natural resources. The Florida Green Lodging Program is unique in that it covers an all-inclusive list of environmental initiatives that are specific to the Florida environment.
Go to Florida Green Lodging.
