TALLAHASSEE -- Confronting their tightest budget year in decades, Florida legislators squandered relatively few tax dollars on hometown projects known as ''turkeys,'' according to a statewide research group.

In its annual ''turkey watch'' report, Florida TaxWatch cited 10 projects worth $15 million that should be vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist -- the fewest such projects in the last 15 years that TaxWatch has been combing state budgets for questionable spending. The group reported $110 million in turkeys last year and $256 million the year before that.

Nearly all of this year's ''turkeys'' are in Miami-Dade and the Tampa Bay area. Among the turkeys cited by TaxWatch:

• $3 million to retrofit traffic signals so they are less vulnerable to hurricanes;

• $1 million for the South Florida Intermodal Logistics Center;

• $1 million for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis;

• $1 million for Miami-Dade Diabetes Research Institute;

• $250,000 for Goodwill Industries of South Florida;

• $200,000 for the South Florida Charter Autism School, and

• $100,000 for a task force on African-American history.

TaxWatch defines a turkey as a project that surfaces in the budget conference committee stage near the end of the session. The group cited the April report by a Leon County grand jury that indicted ousted House Speaker Ray Sansom and former Northwest Florida State College President Bob Richburg and harshly criticized the secretive nature of last-minute budget deals.

Several Miami-Dade projects landed on the TaxWatch list because they were added in conference. That was the case with a $1 million appropriation for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which is affiliated with the University of Miami.

''Curing paralysis is something every citizen in Florida should support,'' Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, one of two House budget chairmen, said when told the appropriation made the list. ``The center has made great strides.''

Asked if he agreed that there are turkeys in the budget, Crist said: ``There may be a few. We'll have to decide.''

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