ATLANTA, GEORGIA – Franklin, Hart and Madison County State Representative Alan Powell has been hearing testimony on the state’s financial situation in advance of this years budgeting. From Rep. Alan Powell: To begin the process of the General Assembly’s constitutional mandate to pass a balanced budget each year, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held a series of joint budget hearings Jan. 17-19.
The meetings began with a briefing from Gov. Nathan Deal, who reviewed the highlights of his proposals for the annual budget for fiscal year 2013 as well as the midyear budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2012, which ends June 30. Before last month, when state tax collections declined by 1.2 percent, Georgia had seen 18 consecutive months of revenue growth, putting the revenue estimate for 2013 at $19.2 billion.
State revenues are up 5.2 percent overall for the first six months of the current fiscal year. With this increase, the governor said he hopes to end some of the major cuts to public education that have shifted the tax burden to the local level, while investing in schools and infrastructure projects, fill holes in Medicaid and ensure our prisons are fully equipped to keep dangerous criminals off the street.
State Economist Kenneth Heaghney told lawmakers that he is forecasting a slow, steady growth which would not see Georgia reaching its peak general fund revenues seen in 2007 until fiscal year 2015. Overall per-capita spending in the budget plan for next year, when adjusted for inflation, is 20.5 percent less than the fiscal year 2002 budget. This means we must remain committed to maintaining a conservative budget and lean state government. It is with this sense of fiscal responsibility that Georgia is one of only eight states that have managed to keep the AAA bond rating from all three rating agencies. This top rating has saved taxpayers $11 million over the life of bonds sold last year alone.