Chris Cate: Welcome to the Fluent and Floridian Podcast, featuring the Sunshine State's brightest leaders talking about the issues most important to the people of Florida and its millions of weekly visitors. 

I'm your host Chris [Kate 00:00:12], and in this episode created by Salter Mitchell PR, I talked to Florida Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis. In our conversation, we'll talk about the CFO's hometown of Panama City, and the restaurant his family made famous in the Panhandle that taught him about business and serving the community. We'll also talk about the CFO's days in the legislature, the state of the insurance market after the recent hurricane season, and about the general financial well-being of our state, and you can hear it all right now.

CFO, thanks so much for being on the show. I thought we'd start by talking about your hometown of Panama City. What was it like growing up there while your father and uncle ran one of the best known restaurants in the Panhandle?

Jimmy Patronis: Thanks. I really appreciate being able to join you. Growing up in Panama City was absolute the best place in the whole world to grow up, but it's kind of hard to say anything different, because I didn't know any different. My brothers and I were born and raised there, and it was kind of the restaurant was a way of life, and if we wanted money, you had to go to work. Dad never gave us an allowance. Mom never gave us an allowance, and so this work ethic that we had of constantly being in the customer pleasing business was just something that we've known since we were able to show up to work. 

So, fantastic place to grow up, and then that's kind of different. A lot of people don't realize that northwest Florida has a totally different tourist season than the rest of the state, and as the school is out in Alabama and Georgia and Tennessee for the summer months, that's when the most prosperity happens in northwest Florida where most of south Florida, traditionally, is opposite. So, anyway, we've definitely got a different economy, too.

Chris Cate: And how much have you seen Panama City grow since you were a child as compared to what it looks like today?

Jimmy Patronis: So, exponentially. The airport is probably the best indicator of the changes we've seen. In 2010, I used to be on the Airport Board in Panama City, we did a relocation after to take the municipal airport in downtown Panama City and move it to the northern part of the county, and the old airport was doing, in 2009, did 250,000 passengers a year. The new airport in 2010, in its first full year operation, did almost a million passengers. 

So, there's this exponential growth of folks that have discovered northwest Florida, and right now Texas has become the fourth largest market that vacations in northwest Florida. The airport's a huge driver of that. Prior to the real estate boom of the '05-'06 era, there was about 3,000 bedroom units on Panama City Beach. With the residential boom that took place, we went from 3,000 hotel rooms to almost 18,000 bedrooms that are condotels for better word. So, the destination has grown also in attractiveness and retail, but also in occupancy.

Chris Cate: Being a part of Captain Anderson's as it's grown over the years, what lessons about business and about serving a community did you take away from that?

Jimmy Patronis: You know, it was just absolutely the best place to work. Up until I took the job as CFO, my brothers and I still clocked in and clocked out every day, and it kind of ... It started from as when we were teenagers, we worked at the restaurant. You go clock in, when you're off your shift and you're going home, you clock out. My brothers still do that. I still did that, and that was probably what taught us to be loyal to the business, but understanding that, it boils down to managing people, and taking care of the customer, and keeping the trains running on time.

So, the greatest work experiences that we got were also the same experiences we carried forward in raising our families. Taking care of others has this really unique effect of benefiting us, too.

Chris Cate: At what point did you decide to run for office?

Jimmy Patronis: I've always loved public service. I had a unsuccessful race when I was in junior high, running for a student council position, and then I had another unsuccessful time in high school. So, I guess the third time was a charm, and then in 2005, I decided to file for House District 6. 

I'd done some public service work in the community and volunteered on charitable boards, but then when I got into it, look out. At that time, it was the most expensive primary in the history of the state of Florida, but it was also a time when Florida was flush full of a lot of money, and it was prior to the real estate bust. So, it was a real interesting time to walk into the next several years of the legislature with some of the toughest economic times this state has ever faced.

So, I think it was a great set of life experiences for me to deal with some of the most prosperous times in northwest Florida, and then legislatively I had to come in here and deal with some of the most challenging times, fiscally, that this state's ever faced.

Chris Cate: Were there one or two issues that you went in as a legislator that you're most passionate about, or was there something when you became a legislator perhaps it was the budget and the fiscal responsibility that you really keyed in on?

Jimmy Patronis: I think I've always been a saver. So, I think part of my mindset has always been in the legislative process, and when we got here, there was a very tight budget environment we were in, but there's no such thing as ... The Seevers Projects was community budget requests. Those disappeared while we were here, because the state was in a time of declining revenues and increased unemployment. As that was starting to change, I didn't know any different, so I still always just a staunch fiscal conservative when it came to spending the state's money.

I just knew that the people of my district, in District 6, they spent their money better than Tallahassee did. So, I was always advocating for finding ways to get money back into the people's pockets of northwest Florida. Now, I just got to turn it up a notch and apply it to the 20 million that live in the state of Florida.

Chris Cate: After you were a legislator, you were appointed to be a public service commissioner by the governor. What lessons could you take from working with the legislature to be a part of that Public Service Commission?

Jimmy Patronis: So, the Public Service Commission was fascinating. The best lesson I learned at the Public Service Commission was prudent use of the right payer's money. At the same time, we are charged with help being the rate setting arm for the state's utilities, and I just needed to ensure that the citizens of the state of Florida were getting the best value for their dollar with a reasonable service and that's predictable. What I had to be sensitive to, is when you have a legislative agenda that plays into that, because not necessarily every fuel mix, whether it be coal versus natural gas versus solar versus nuclear, may always equate to the best rate for the customer.

When I left the legislature and became a public service commission, I had to really lose my opinions. I had to be open-minded, and I had to be willing to accept the will of the legislature. So, a little bit of a quasi-judicial role that I got to play there, but understanding that market forces have a lot to do with the rate setting process, and we were changed significantly because of abundant natural gas over the last few years.

Chris Cate: And now you've been appointed CFO by the governor. Is this something you could have imagined being a year ago?

Jimmy Patronis: Absolutely not. When I was going home to raise a family, had friends encourage me that I should apply for the Public Service Commission. I thought, 'Okay, this really sounds interesting.' I love a new challenge, and I was fascinated by the Public Service Commission, but one of my dreams, I always wanted to be on the Constitution Revision Commission. Always since the last Constitutional Revision Commission all came to Captain Anderson's Restaurant when I was a kid, and I was an intern. So, I was just blown away by that opportunity.

Never seeing that being a cabinet officer for the state of Florida was ever a possibility. So, when the governor called and asked me if I would consider this, I can say I was speechless, but I also knew there was going to be some significant sacrifices to make. 

Most importantly was to make sure that my family was okay with it, and my wife and my two boys signed off on it, but the other was, is the last 35 years, Captain Anderson's has been part of my daily routine. I had to part ways from what I've known as my bread and butter. So, a lot of changes have happened with me, but I think the world of the governor, and I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve our state.

Chris Cate: Are there any goals that you've set for yourself as CFO?

Jimmy Patronis: The goals that I got is to get up every morning to do the absolute best job I can for job creation. Getting people an opportunity of how to prosper, and just watching that every single one of their dollars they get invested in this state get returned to them with a value that they're proud of. We've got a financial team here at the Department of Financial Services that's just outstanding and they're second to none, and I'm really proud to have this as an opportunity to work with, and I'm proud of the people I get to work with.

Chris Cate: You were very active this past hurricane season letting people know how to get prepared for storms and protect themselves from fraud. Did your experiences from past storms in Panama City give you a little extra empathy and motivation to help people?

Jimmy Patronis: The last storms we had in northwest Florida were a little bit challenging. The one that had the most impact, at least in recent years, was Hurricane Ivan, with the tornadoes. There's a reality. You don't get a second chance to prepare, and as we saw the storm coming with Irma, a storm twice the size of Hurricane Andrew on its original path, could have caused the greatest fiscal crisis in the history of the state. So, as thank goodness, mother nature played a role and the storm did other trajectories and different energies, and there's all these combination of effects, we still had to turn up the volume of preparedness with our citizens, and mainly just getting them to have a copy of their insurance policy in hand.

The last time a storm of this magnitude hit the state, there was a lot of people that didn't live in the state. So, you had so many new faces in the state of Florida that had not ever dealt with a storm, let alone one of this nature. So, we took their safety paramount, but more importantly, we also wanted to insure that they knew how to get back up on their feet financially after the storm had hit.

Chris Cate: Are you worried about how much the recent storms may affect the insurance market in the next couple of years?

Jimmy Patronis: So, the insurance industry in Florida, we've had a number of good years of storm-free weather. I think the environment that we've seen is we've, because of a number of factors, but there's a much more of a robust insurance market in the state of Florida as there was, say, 10 years ago. With all that extra competition, extra capacity, I think the consumer benefits. OIR does their job to ensure that their fiscal solvency's in place. We make sure the agents are doing their job to take care of the customers, and then our guys out there root out the bad guys who could potentially fraud our customers.

So, as we all work together, I think the citizens are pretty well-protected.

Chris Cate: How has it been different serving an entire state as opposed to a House District, because I know you've had to travel quite a bit more now in your role as CFO?

Jimmy Patronis: A number of things. I mean, being a policymaker, the legislature has great latitude in what they can do. In our office, we serve at the will of the legislature, and if the legislature wished the change the policies that we operate under, they've got that ability. So, think it's more of me putting the hat back on, and being a business owner. I ran a business that had 200 employees. I've purchased Worker's Comp. I've purchased health insurance. I've purchased property casualty insurance. I did payroll. All those elements that I did every week at Captain Anderson's Restaurant, now we do for the state of Florida, but instead of 200 employees, it's 2,000 employees at the Department of Financial Services. So, at the end of the day, it all boils down to managing personnel.

Chris Cate: When people think of a CFO, the job of State Fire Marshall probably doesn't come to mind at first, but that is one of your roles here. What has the learning curve been like as far as understanding all the different things a CFO must oversee, because it's not just the finances?

Jimmy Patronis: Right, right. So, the State Fire Marshall job is obviously probably ... That's the one my boys are most excited about, because I'm convinced now, since their dad has got this new job, I've got a nine year old and a seven year old, they want to be firemen, but when I was on the Public Service Commission, as part as I was explaining to folks, we turned the light switch on. The lights come on. We turn the faucet on. Water comes out of the faucet. You flush the commode, and it just got right away, and everything gets taken care of behind the walls of sheet rock, and that type of predictability is something that I think we take for granted.

Really, I've always kind of sensed it, but the State Fire Marshall's job is really put the gravity to our first responders, and these individuals put their lives on the line. Every time you dial 911, they will come a-running, no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what type of situation you're in, they're coming with help to make a difference in saving your life, providing a solution to your challenges, or even helping a senior citizen get up that's fallen down.

So, the role that our first responders play is something, now, that is probably a different type of something that I really feel like hasn't been appreciated. So, if there's something that really has been eye-opening to me, is the role that these guys play in every day of creating normalcy in our state, but also give us a quality of life here that really needs to be appreciated.

Chris Cate: And what have you learned about working with your fraud team about the efforts that Florida takes to protect people from insurance fraud

Jimmy Patronis: So, in the storm is probably the best example. Hurricane Irma brought out the absolute best in people. The volunteers, the giving, the donations, but it brought the absolute worst in people, and it brought an element out that was unsavory that wanted to take advantage of our citizens at their most vulnerable state. Their house had holes in it, roof was leaking, their wedding photos were getting destroyed, all these elements that could be a result of Hurricane Irma, and then the fraud element comes in.

So, our guys are the boots on the ground that every day go out there, and try to keep the fraudsters from getting in between them and their fiscal resolution from their insurance company. So, as we are continuing that fight every single day now, I still like to remind people, if it sounds too good to be true, it is, and if somebody's making an offer to make you whole, your first call should be to the Department of Financial Services or insurance hotline or your insurance agent, before you make any decisions or sign any documents.

Chris Cate: And I know you do keep your finger on the financial pulse now of the state. Can you give us just an overview of what the state's finances look like?

Jimmy Patronis: Sure. So, I mean, probably the greatest ... I get nerdy about the numbers, and I get really excited about it, but we've saved billions of dollars in just interest payments alone since 2010, since Governor Scott took office, and just simple taking advantage of our credit worthiness and our credit rating. It's very good. We're the number one fiscally rated state in the union, but because of that, just the other day we took $3 million worth of write-away bonds to market. We sold them in less than 15 seconds, and they sold for 3.2%.

And then I look at other states, like an Illinois or New Jersey, they go through the same exercise as needing money also for their own infrastructure needs, and they're paying 1 and 2% more, and if we apply that, that's 2% more on the cost of money that could be going to education, could be going to healthcare, to transportation. 

So, due to our credit worthiness in the state, our fiscal health of the state, we're able to be much more nimble. We can react. We can expand. We can do things our other contemporaries can't. 

I look at our just our debt per citizen. I think we're around $1,200 per citizen debt in the state of Florida. You go to New Jersey, it's over $4,000. So, I mean, the state of New Jersey will never get out of it's debt. You can't tax your way out of it. You can't grow the economy of New Jersey in order to make that type of recovery. So, thank goodness we have a beautiful destination that people move to every day. We've got a growing economy, and all that factors in to a lower cost of living and a favorable debt to financial ratio here.

Chris Cate: I like to close every interview with four questions. The first being, who is a Florida leader you admire? And it could be someone a current leader or someone from the past.

Jimmy Patronis: I really probably who I probably admire most, and it's hard for me not to have this guy on my mind a lot, but it's going to be Governor Scott. I served in the legislature for eight years under two different governors. I was an intern in the Florida legislature under a different governor. I got to watch all these different leaders in action, and I've never seen anybody who has been on the stage running our state like Governor Scott who has worked as hard as he has. I don't believe he sleeps. 

I think every waking minutes he's got, he's doing something in order to save the citizens of the state of Florida money, or giving tax cuts, or make challenges to the legislature on any of a number of agenda items, and I think part of what I admire about him is he ran for office without having a lot of political history, and that was both good and bad, and the good was is he asked a lot of the questions that maybe weren't asked, because, oh, well, it just is the way it is, and those are the way we do things here in the state of Florida.

So, he definitely took that curiosity and turned them into challenges. So, I really admire what he's done, and I really appreciate the fiscal help he has driven our state to be now.

Chris Cate: What is something in Florida that deserves more attention that what it's getting right now?

Jimmy Patronis: I think there's two things I think need deserve more attention. One, I already touched on a little bit, is our first responders. I think everybody admires them and respects them and loves our first responders. I don't think that people realize that most first responders and firemen and EMTs spend more time with their colleagues than they do their own family members. So, the sacrifices that those men and women make every day, taking time away from their families in order to protect our families, is something that I think needs to be brought to light. So, I mean, as we are trying to look out for those people that give us quality of life, I think that we can't do enough for those.

The other is, is it's kind of, again, me just being passionate about living in the best state in the union, is probably our state park system. State parks in the state of Florida, I think they're destinations in their own rite. I think there's lots of opportunities to see what's great about Florida by just touring our state parks. We've got some fantastic ones, and we put together a parks guide, and sometimes I just encourage our citizens, go grab a parks guide, and just go explore what Florida's got to offer. 

There's so many great elements here that we've got, with amenities that people don't realize that really, at the end of the day, is a win-win, because the money then stays in our state.

Chris Cate: And speaking of Florida destinations, do you have a favorite Florida place you like to visit?

Jimmy Patronis: There's several places. I love visiting Doak Campbell Stadium every fall, come football season. I love ... I'm partial to, when I had House District 6 at one time, we had Gulf County and Franklin County. I'm very partial to Cape San Blas and to Apalachicola. To me, those areas there in St. Joe, there's elements there that are very unique to Florida. They're off the beaten path. They have a character, and they have a constituency that lives there that doesn't change often. So, there's people that have a lot of flavor. They're gritty.

I think if you haven't taken highway 98 along the coast from Panama City all the way down through Apalachicola and on, I think you're missing out. I think it's one of the best drives in the state. And you know, the other place that I'm really fond of, and I think if you have never been there, it's worth going over to Pensacola and touring the Naval Air Station Museum. 

There are ... I got chills just telling you about it. I mean, they even have the first aircraft that ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean nonstop. Big amphibious piece of equipment, but you've just got some fantastic firsts that were done in this state. Unfortunately, I'm a little partial to where I grew up.

Chris Cate: Based on your last answer, I think I may know this answer. What is your favorite Florida sports team?

‍Jimmy Patronis: Oh, yeah, I guess I did already. I just get to say it again. It's Florida State. I'm a Florida State grad. I married a Gator, so I've learned how to temper a little bit of my enthusiasm for the Seminoles around my wife, because I like having a happy household, but I do have a tag on my car that shows that we are both Gators and Seminoles in our household. So, anyway, I love Florida State. It's a little bit of a challenge this year, but we'll take the good with the bad. We stick with our teams through thick and thin.

Chris Cate: Great. Well, thank you so much for being on the show.

Jimmy Patronis: Yeah, appreciate it. Thanks.

Chris Cate: Great. 

Thanks for listening to the Fluent and Floridian Podcast. If you aren't subscribed to the podcast yet, I hope you'll look us up, and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app, like Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. If you leave a review, that would be great, too. Thanks to my team at Salter Mitchell PR for making this podcast possible. If you need help telling your Florida story, we've got you covered. We offer issues management, crisis communications, social media, advocacy, and media relations assistance. We also have our own in-house creative and research teams. Look us up at saltermitchellpr.com for more information. You can also find more information about the Fluent and Floridian Podcast at fluentandfloridian.com. Have a great day.