It is unlikely to come to fruition, but Gov. Rick Scott has floated a legislative proposal that would take money from local governments already struggling with dwindling revenue.

Beginning in July, public employees’ paychecks decreased by 3 percent when new legislation went into effect requiring them to contribute to the Florida Retirement System (FRS). The initiative was pushed by Scott, who advocated for a 5 percent contribution, citing a lack of solvency of the guaranteed retirement system and the fact that Florida was the only state in the country where employees did not contribute.

 The legislation, while not well-received by public employees and currently being challenged in court, saved local governments that previously funded their employees’ entire retirement a significant amount of money and, in some cases, jobs.

But now Scott is looking for a way to take it all back and “stop the windfall of money that was given to some local governments …” according to reports based on a draft of the governor’s legislative priorities.

That “windfall” saved Bay County administration about $690,000 in all its departments for the 2011-2012 budget year, budget officer Ashley Stukey said. The county as a whole faced a 6.4 percent, or roughly $3.2 million, budget shortfall for the fiscal year. To make up for the shortfall, 11 positions were eliminated from county departments, including six layoffs. Had the pension changes not gone into effect, County Manager Ed Smith said more people might have lost their jobs.

“We used it to plug the budget,” he said of the savings.

The effect of the pension changes were even more dramatic at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, where in the first four months alone $600,000 was saved, according to Maj. Tommy Ford. For the 2011-2012 budget year, the Sheriff’s Office anticipates $1 million in savings, a number that could go up or down depending on what happens to the contribution rates in July.

BCSO’s entire reduction in revenue, $1.6 million, was absorbed by the FRS changes, allowing them to avoid the furloughs they instituted last year, while continuing several other cost-cutting measures.

“Without (the FRS savings) we would have had to make some hard choices,” Ford said.

Scott repeatedly said in the last session he would use the money to eliminate the Florida Retirement System’s unfunded liability, which is about one-tenth of the fund’s total liability. Experts, however, including Florida’s chief investment officer, has said the fund is adequately funded and is one of the most solvent in the country.

Brian Burgess, Scott’s communications director, wrote in an email that the draft was produced in response to a public records request but was “months old” and “is not an accurate list of the Governor’s actual legislative priorities.”

Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, is the chairman of the committee that would have to review any changes to FRS policy, and although he has heard discussions about Scott’s desire to find a way to retain the money at the state level, no written proposals or bills have been filed with his committee.

With three pre-session committee meetings to go and more than 70 bills already on tap, Patronis said it is not likely to come before the Legislature this year because his peers don’t have a strong desire to undertake such a shift. Keeping the money in Tallahassee was part of Scott’s original proposal last session, he said, but it was axed in the months of political wrangling before the bill was passed.

“We didn’t do it last year and I don’t think we’ll do it this year,” he said. “Whatever tweaks we see are probably going to be minor.”

Patronis’ sentiments brought a sigh of relief from some local officials. If there was legislation to keep the FRS savings at the state level, it likely would come out of the municipal disbursements of state revenue sharing, Smith said. The effects of reduced revenue sharing allotments could mean layoffs of public employees or local tax increases, but are impossible to ascertain without knowing the local tax base next year.

Smith said it would likely be painful.

“It would be useful to us if the governor and legislators would let us keep that money for another couple of years until things stabilize,” he said.