Georgia senators huddle after Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced plans to suspend the legislative session over coronavirus concerns on March 12, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Crunch time has come for state agencies in Georgia wondering how much money they will have in the bank come July 1, as lawmakers return Monday for a reboot of the 2020 legislative session in Atlanta.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake for agencies in charge of statewide public health programs, mental health and addiction treatment, child welfare services, the courts system, public schools, and more.
To float the budget cuts, thousands of state employees are facing furloughs and the continued prospect of working remotely to save office costs. Layoffs lie in wait for some. Others, like Georgia Supreme Court justices, have said they might work for free a few days out of the year.
“We’re facing some real challenges,” said Sen. Ellis Black, R-Valdosta. “We’ve got to put together a budget and it’s going to involve some cuts that’s gonna hurt.”
The 2020 legislative session resumes on Monday, June 15, after being suspended in mid-March as concerns mounted over the spread of coronavirus. Lawmakers are legally required to pass a 2021 fiscal year budget and send it to Gov. Brian Kemp for signing before July 1.
Georgia’s finances look to be a few billion dollars in the hole after months of social distancing and business closures compelled by coronavirus, the global pandemic that had infected at least 55,000 people and killed more than 2,400 in Georgia by Friday afternoon.
To meet a 14% budget trimming target, state agencies have offered up about $3.5 billion in spending cuts across a broad range of government-funded services, including furloughs for preschool teachers, the closure of a state prison in South Georgia and less money for local health departments.
Recently, Kemp signaled agencies may not need to cut quite so much as state tax revenues have declined less steeply than at first projected. More likely, agencies will have to reckon with 11% cuts to their budgets, saving hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise be nixed.
That would help officials overseeing critical programs for mentally and physically disabled persons and the state’s fight against coronavirus to soften the blow to employees, allowing for fewer or no furlough days instead of weeks without pay.
But 11% cuts are still steep. Mental health and addiction services would have to be sliced by around $135 million, forcing the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to withhold millions of dollars from outpatient and residential programs aimed at staving off crises that can lead to hospital stays for mentally ill persons.
County health boards, which receive grant funding from the state Department of Public Health, would hold onto roughly $3.8 million with 11% cuts as opposed to 14%. But that would still leave county health officials out almost $14 million total, leaving local virus-fighting staff with less means to continue the pandemic fight.
“We were already working with a frayed safety net,” said Alex Camardelle, a senior policy analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “Now that we’ve hit the pandemic, income insecurity and economic insecurity have exploded.”
Key to the upcoming budget negotiations will be how much appetite lawmakers have for raising new revenues or yanking lucrative tax breaks from companies. In particular, some lawmakers are eying a potential increase in the state’s tobacco sales tax, a move many nonprofit and think-tank groups have pushed in recent weeks.
“I hope maybe we can find with looking at tax credits that may not be so beneficial, to find ways to bring some revenue back in, as well as perhaps an increase in the cigarette tax,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell.
Already, several budget-writing lawmakers have differed on how to approach implementing the spending cuts. Some, for instance, have floated the idea of imposing salary cuts instead of furloughs for key positions like judges and preschool teachers.
But that idea has drawn opposition from some top lawmakers like Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, who objected to salary slicing after it was raised at a hearing late last month.
“Asking them to work the same hours for less pay, as some have suggested, is unacceptable,” said Miller, R-Gainesville. “While furlough days are not ideal, we certainly will not be asking state employees to work without adequate compensation.”
Meanwhile, much of the belt-tightening depends on moving targets, such as whether the federal government follows through on COVID-19 relief funds and how people react to fewer restrictions on businesses and health-care providers in the coming months.
For example, the state Department of Community Health’s proposed spending cuts totaling $413 million would be largely offset by a recent boost in matching federal funds for Medicaid costs and by fewer healthy people making trips to the doctor amid the coronavirus scare.
But those figures could change if the federal government claws back certain special benefits put in place during the pandemic or if people flock to doctor’s offices in the coming months, according to state health officials.
It’s for that reason many state lawmakers are looking to draft the budget in pencil strokes rather than ballpoint ink, with expectations high that drastic mid-year budget adjustments may need to be made in early 2021 to cover unpredictable spending gaps.
“I think this year, more than any other year at least since I’ve been here, the amended budget process is going to be super important because there are so many unknowns,” said Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Community Health Subcommittee.
“I know I’m going to be disappointed that I can’t do more,” he added. “But know that what we are able to adjust will come from the combined wisdom of everyone here.”
ATLANTA – Legislation supporters say would attract private dollars to historic preservation projects across Georgia is raising fears it could threaten 120 state parks, wildlife management areas and historic sites designated as heritage preserves.
A bill the Georgia House of Representatives passed with little fanfare on a busy Crossover Day in March would let the state sell parcels of up to 15 acres at sites listed as heritage preserves to private entities or nonprofits. Under current law, the state can sell heritage properties only to local governments.
Putting such publicly owned lands in private hands could pave the way for development projects that would go against the intent of the 1975 state law establishing the preserves, the co-directors of a University of Georgia historic and cultural preservation warned in an open letter.
“Limiting public access and permitting development is the opposite intent of the Heritage Act’s purpose to make the state’s unique natural, historical and recreational places ‘available to all Georgians, now and in the future,’ ” wrote Maurice Bailey and Nik Heynen, co-directors of the Cornelia Walker Bailey Program on Land and Agriculture, named to honor a member of Sapelo Island’s Hog Hammock who fought for the survival of the Gullah-Geechee community there.
Historic preservation advocates in coastal Georgia have been particularly active in bringing public awareness to House Bill 906.
They have raised concerns about a distillery proposed for Butler Island in McIntosh County, part of the Altamaha Wildlife Management Area. A rice plantation there that once housed more than 900 slaves was the site of the largest slave auction in U.S. history in 1859.
But the bill would affect other parts of Georgia where preservationists are eyeing projects that could benefit from an injection of private or nonprofit funding.
The historic state-owned Lapham-Patterson House in Thomasville, built in the Victorian style during the 1880s, is among the state’s heritage preserve sites. But it’s deteriorating with age and needs extensive repairs the cash-strapped state can’t afford, said Georgia Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville.
“It takes a lot of money to maintain it,” said Taylor, chief sponsor of House Bill 906. “[But] in today’s budget world, how can we find the money? We still have to fund maternal mortality [prevention], teachers, Medicaid. There’s only so much money.”
Josh Hildebrandt, director of governmental affairs for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said historic buildings like the Lapham-Patterson House are prime candidates to benefit from the proposed legislation, rather than the state parks or wildlife management areas on the list of heritage preserve sites.
“It’s different with a structure,” he said. “Anybody from a homeowner to a historic preservation organization knows what houses and other structures go through from nature and the weather, as opposed to a piece of land that’s used as a deer habitat.”
Taylor said the bill includes safeguards aimed at protecting the historical integrity of heritage properties the state decides to privatize. Proposed sales would be subject to a public hearing and would have to be approved by the Georgia Board of Natural Resources, she said.
“If something is a bad project, it will be killed,” she said.
But the bill’s critics point to uncertainties in its wording, including whether the 15-acre tracts the measure envisions could be subdivided into smaller lots and sold to several private entities, or whether a single private entity could buy up enough contiguous 15-acre parcels to take over an entire heritage preserve site.
“House Bill 906 opens a door for Ossabaw [Island] and other heritage preserves to be removed piecemeal from use by generations of Georgians, subdivided and conveyed to out of state ownership … for just about any use,” Elizabeth DuBose, executive director of the Ossabaw Foundation, warned in a letter.
But Hildebrant said the bill includes provisions to prevent the negative consequences of a sale DuBose fears.
“It is critically important to realize that any property that might be conveyed is required to have a perpetual conservation easement placed on it,” he said. “[That] would limit the type of activities and changes that could be done on the property … protecting its historic nature and integrity.”
The state Senate is expected to take up the bill when the General Assembly resumes the suspended 2020 legislative session on Monday.
ATLANTA – One of America’s major telecommunications companies is striking a blow at the pervasive inadequacy of online connectivity in rural Georgia.
Comcast Inc. announced a $9 million investment Friday to expand its internet services to nearly 8,000 homes and businesses in Haralson and Carroll counties in West Georgia.
“I want to applaud Comcast’s continued focus on supporting residents and businesses in rural Georgia,” said state House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who attended a ceremony unveiling the initiative Friday in downtown Tallapoosa. “Comcast’s technology investment in Haralson and Carroll counties will strengthen these communities and create new opportunities by supporting workforce development, education and quality of life.”
“This announcement supports Georgia’s mission to be the technology capital of the East Coast,” added Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who formed a high-profile task force of political, business and academic leaders last winter with that goal in mind. “I am grateful for Comcast’s commitment to continue to focus on expanding broadband access in rural Georgia.”
Increasing rural Georgians’ access to internet connectivity has been a key goal of the House Rural Development Council, a committee of state lawmakers Ralston formed in 2017 to look for solutions to the economic challenges facing rural Georgia.
Following up on that agenda, the House passed legislation in March aimed at making it easier for the state’s telecom providers to deploy broadband service to rural customers. The bill has been sent over to the Georgia Senate to consider when the General Assembly resumes the 2020 legislative session on Monday.
The Comcast project will give previously unserved homes and businesses in the two counties access to a wide range of internet options via the company’s Xfinity services.
“Today’s announcement truly underscores our commitment to bridging the digital divide in rural Georgia,” said Jason Gumbs, regional senior vice president at Comcast. “During these challenging times, it is clear just how critical broadband connectivity has become.”
The new service will be available within one year.
Coronavirus has sickened tens of thousands and killed thousands more in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Gov. Brian Kemp moved late Thursday to ease more social distancing restrictions for businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, including ending capacity limits for restaurants and lifting the shelter-in-place order for many people 65-years and older.
The governor is also allowing live performance venues and large convention spaces to reopen on July 1 so long as they meet some distancing and sanitizing requirements. Bars will also be allowed to have the greater of up to 50 patrons or 35% of their full capacity, starting June 16.
Professional, youth and amateur sports teams will also be allowed to resume games and practices starting June 16 so long as their respective leagues allow it, according to the governor’s office. Sports leagues have previously been advised that they may draft their own distancing and cleanliness rules.
Seniors in long-term care facilities and those with chronic health conditions including lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, severe heart diseases, compromised immune systems and diabetes are still under a shelter-in-place order through June 30.
Overnight summer camps will be allowed starting June 16 so long as campers and staff can show proof that they tested negative for coronavirus before arriving at camp. Day camps and summer school classes have already been allowed to resume.
The limit on restaurant gatherings, previously set at a maximum of 25 people, will be eliminated entirely starting June 16. Seating arrangements need to allow for six feet of space between groups, according to Kemp’s order.
“For salad bars and buffets, a worker can use cafeteria-style service to serve patrons or the establishment can provide hand sanitizer, install a sneeze guard, enforce social distancing and regularly replace shared utensils to allow patron self-service,” said a news release from Kemp’s office.
Bars, bowling alleys, barbers, salons, gyms, movie theaters and amusement parks will be allowed to reopen as of Friday if they have not done so yet, pending certain safety requirements.
The latest round of restriction easing comes as Kemp continues pulling back on drastic measures put in place in April to curb the spread of coronavirus. He has cited the need to jump-start the state’s flagging economy, touting a decrease in hospitalizations and infection rates to back his decisions.
As of Thursday afternoon, nearly 55,000 people in Georgia had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel strain of coronavirus that sparked a global pandemic. It had killed 2,375 Georgians.
Health experts across the country have warned local communities could see an uptick in infections following Memorial Day festivities late last month and as state officials peel back business and distancing requirements.
“We are still battling a pandemic and we need to stay vigilant,” Kemp said at a news conference last week. “Continue to keep your distance, wash your hands and do all the other things we have been saying for weeks and weeks now.”
ATLANTA – Bolstered by federal coronavirus relief funds, MARTA’s governing board adopted a $1.2 billion budget Thursday without raising fares or laying off employees.
The transit agency received $298.6 million in federal aid from the CARES Act Congress passed in March as transit systems across the country began losing riders in droves because of the economic lockdown brought on by COVID-19.
After using $83 million of that money to help offset immediate coronavirus-related losses, MARTA rolled $150 million into the fiscal 2021 budget – which takes effect July 1 – and set aside $65.6 million for use in fiscal 2022.
“This has been an extraordinarily difficult time for transit,” MARTA General Manager and CEO Jeffrey Parker said Thursday. “We’ve provided safe, essential service while experiencing unprecedented revenue losses. This budget … reflects MARTA’s commitment to state of good repair and expansion while being mindful of future financial impacts of COVID-19.”
The budget, which is divided almost equally between operating and capital programing funds, includes 3% pay raises for MARTA employees and sets aside $20 million in a contingency fund for coronavirus-related expenses during the coming fiscal year, including personal protection equipment and emergency sick leave.
Also, MARTA has suspended merit increases for non-union employees, eliminated vacancies and increased its emphasis on reducing overtime costs.
As part of its service expansion efforts, the transit agency will invest $20 million in new natural gas-powered and electric buses and new bus transit centers and bus shelters in DeKalb and Clayton counties.
MARTA also expects soon to enter the environmental impact phase for plans to provide high-capacity transit in Clayton County, with options under consideration including heavy rail, light rail and bus-rapid transit.
The agency’s $599 million capital budget includes $62 million for a systemwide station rehabilitation program and repairs to large sections of aging tracks. Other rail system projects include a systemwide elevator and escalator rehabilitation program and the first installment of a long-range initiative that eventually will replace all of MARTA’s rail cars.
