PANAMA CITY — Gov. Rick Scott signed a $77 billion state budget Monday, the largest in Florida history, packed with hundreds of millions of dollars in popular election-year projects championed by his fellow Republicans in the Legislature.

Scott's use of the line-item veto was his most surgical yet. He trimmed only $69 million in spending as he approved money for parks, museums, festivals, elderly meals programs, water and sewer projects, and a gun range for police officers.

"I went through it and tried to look at every one and say, 'Was it a good use of taxpayer money? Do we get a good return on investment?' " Scott said at a campaign stop in Panama City, where he promoted a small screen printing business.

Scott, who in his first year axed $615 million of what he called "short-sighted, frivolous, wasteful spending," was lavish in his praise of the 2014-15 budget. He emphasized $500 million in fee and tax cuts and more money for schools in a year when the state is flush with $1.2 billion in new revenue.

Even projects Scott vetoed last year won his support this time, such as $15 million for a coast-to-coast bicycle trail in Central Florida. Asked what role election-year politics played in his newfound generosity, Scott said: "My focus is on what's good for taxpayers."

Henry Kelley of the Tea Party Network in Fort Walton Beach said he was shocked that the budget Scott signed is $9 billion larger than when he took office in 2011.

"Sixty-nine million dollars in vetoes? That's not even accounting dust," Kelley said. "Be it Democrats in Washington or Republicans in Tallahassee, I can't really tell the difference. … Charlie Crist was more of a fiscal conservative than what Rick Scott has turned out to be."

Every region of the state will reap the benefits of the new budget, but the Tampa Bay region felt the sting of Scott's veto pen in various ways.

The governor rejected $1.625 million for Agenda 2020's antipoverty plan, which was supported by St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman; $1 million of $4 million requested for a Nature Coast tourist center in Hernando County; $500,000 for the Largo Cultural Center; $100,000 for the YMCA's Tech Smart Tampa Bay; and $50,000 for a Tampa Bay baseball museum at the home of Hall of Famer Al Lopez.

Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, said Scott's support for local priorities is a sign he's becoming a better listener.

"There may have been a bit of a learning curve, as there is for everybody up there," Gonzalez said.

Rep. Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, said Scott did a good job curbing unnecessary spending even in a year with so much more money available.

"I think a lot of the projects had value but not to the state as a whole," Trujillo said. "They had value to just unique small communities or just small groups of people."

Trujillo said that goes for the $2 million Scott eliminated for the $430 million SkyRise Miami project, a 1,000-foot-high observation tower.

"They're spending hundreds of millions of dollars in building this project," Trujillo said. "They should pay for the sidewalks and the others things that are necessary for completing this project."

The bottom-line number for K-12 schools of $20.7 billion is the largest in history, but per-pupil spending is still $177 less than during the high-water mark of 2007-2008, the first year of former Gov. Crist, Scott's likely opponent this fall.

In addition, about two-thirds of the increase in K-12 spending is paid for by local property taxes, due to increases in home values — one of several indicators of a rejuvenated Florida economy.

Crist had called on Scott to veto hundreds of millions of dollars in pet projects for lawmakers' districts and plow all of it into the public schools.

Democrats cited the fact that in his first year in office, Scott pushed for a $1.3 billion cut in public school spending, that he signed a second-year budget with $300 million in cuts to state universities and that the Bright Futures scholarship program serves fewer students today than it did seven years ago.

"Rick Scott is trying to run from his record of slashing education funding," Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Allison Tant said. "No amount of poll-tested talking points can change the fact that per-pupil spending still remains below 2007 levels."

The budget includes $18 million for the state to hire and train 270 additional front-line workers to reduce the case loads of employees at the Department of Children and Families who investigate child abuse and neglect.

The budget, which takes effect July 1, contains no automatic statewide increase in tuition for universities and community colleges, which was a top Scott priority. Most state workers will not get an across-the-board pay raise, but they will be eligible for performance bonuses.

The budget sets aside $3 billion in rainy-day unspent reserves for emergencies such as hurricanes.

"It's an election year," said Rep. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater. "Maybe we're trying to make good on stuff we took away years ago."

Times/Herald staff writers Tia Mitchell and Mary Ellen Klas and Times researcher Natalie Watson contributed to this report. Contact Steve Bousquet at bousquet@tampabay.com or (850) 224-7263.