With the Georgia House of Representatives passing a revised 2009-2010 budget and the Senate now working up its own amended version of the current budget, local lawmakers say the financial health of the state is a major concern, and next year’s budget will likely require an additional $1.5 billion in cuts.
Last Thursday, the Georgia House passed an amended version of the 2010 budget to account for decreases in revenue since the budget was finalized last spring, with cuts this time around coming at $1.15 billion. Members voted 122-44 in favor of the new version of the budget, which included a mandate that teachers and other state employees take three furlough days by June 30 in addition to the furlough days already taken.
On his Web site, Rep. Dubose Porter, D-Dublin, who is the Democratic leader in the House, condemned the House’s budget, saying it hurts the state’s already underachieving public education system. He predicted it would result in increased property taxes.
“It was a devastating blow to the educational system and the taxpayer. It will result in turning away industry and jobs, reducing our children’s chance to compete in a global market, increasing our prison populations and raising property taxes, again,” Porter said. “In the short term, this budget will force local governments to raise your property taxes because of the obligation to pay for the current classrooms. In the long term, the reductions in education will result in a financially unsustainable prison population, which will also force up property taxes. Raising property taxes should not be an option in this economy. Georgians are struggling to stay in their homes and small businesses are closing their doors every day.”
With the Senate working on an amended version of the ongoing budget to be finalized in the coming days, legislators are already looking forward to next year’s budget, which will run from July 1 of this year to June 30, 2011.
According to Rep. Randy Nix, R-LaGrange, the cuts will come across the board, with special protections given to education and mental health programs.
“All state agencies and programs face additional cuts with the exception of mental health, which must be supported to avoid a court takeover,” he said. “Education has received smaller cuts than most agencies but since it accounts for almost half the budget, it must also be cut if we are to balance the budget without tax increases. Everything must be on the table.”
From this point until the end of the session in the next few months, Nix said, the Legislature will need to wait to see if revenues continue to decline as they have up to this point. The 2010 budget was based on a 4 percent increase in revenues, Nix said, and if that increase isn’t there, additional cuts will need to be made down the line. The same will likely be true of the 2011 budget, and while specifics are unknown, the budget is likely to be reduced to $14 billion, more than $4 billion less than it was just four years ago.
“The next few months are somewhat of a waiting game to see if there is some pick-up in state revenues,” Nix said. “The Governor’s mid-year estimates were based on flat revenues so if they continue to fall, there will need to be additional cuts.”
Sen. Bill Hamrick, R-Carrollton, said that upcoming reductions in spending will affect almost all agencies and departments. This year, he said, no one is safe from the chopping block.
“The reductions are across the board, averaging about 8 to 10 percent for most agencies, with education taking less of a reduction,” he said. “All agencies are facing reductions in their budgets and looking for ways to improve efficiencies and operate on much leaner budgets. They will need to continue to do so for the next fiscal year.”
Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, and representatives Mark Butler, R-Carrollton, and Tim Bearden, R-Villa Rica, could not be reached for comment.
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