January 10, 2010
The budget situation is currently the greatest challenge we are facing at the State Capitol. Georgia is constitutionally required to have a balanced state budget. In the midst of the economic recession, this has been a much more difficult task than it is during the good times.
During the last legislative session, we had to cut the fiscal year 2009 budget by $2.3 billion. Then we had to draft a new budget for fiscal year 2010 that was nearly $3 billion - or about 15 percent - smaller than the previous year's budget. For the first time in many years, our teachers and other state employees did not receive a pay increase. There were more cuts to education than we would have liked.
As you have probably noticed on your latest property tax bill, the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant was eliminated. While many of us fought to keep this tax relief in the 2010 budget, the Governor and the legislative leadership were determined to eliminate those grants.
Now, the really bad news: since the end of this year's session, the economic news in our state has only gotten worse. The latest revenue figures - through December 2009 - were more than $1.1 billion off from the same period last year. Through the first six months of this fiscal year, state revenues have already decreased by 13.7 percent.
We were able to balance this year's budget only because Georgia received more than one billion dollars in federal stimulus funding. There is no likelihood that money will be available next year.
The Governor has already ordered more budget cuts, causing furloughs and reductions in services that will wind up touching all of our lives - whether in our schools, our health care facilities, public safety agencies or our court system.
Transportation funding problem still in search of a solution
January 9, 2010
For the second year in a row, we left the State Capitol at the end of the 2009 session without agreeing on sufficiently funding a transportation system that has failed to keep up with the state's growing population. The House of Representatives passed a proposal for a statewide transportation sales tax, while the Senate voted in favor of a regional sales tax for transportation improvements. But the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and House Speaker failed to negotiate a compromise between the two plans. Pressure will mount on the leadership to reach an agreement on transportation funding during the 2010 session.
As a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, working toward passage of a funding solution will again be at the top of my legislative agenda during this session.
Many other issues important issues facing the legislature this year include the following:
~ Ethics reform
~ Trauma care funding
~ Tax reform
~ Water issues
~ Job creation
~ Sunday alcohol sales
~ Judicial funding
~ Georgia's response to federal health care reform
District 6
P.O. Box 1781
Smyrna, GA 30081
Phone: 770.436.0699
Fax: 770.436.0699
Email: doug.stoner@senate.ga.gov
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