Perdue Set To Sign '10 Budget

Today is the deadline for Governor Sonny Perdue to sign or veto legislation still on his desk from the General Assembly session. The biggest item remaining is the new $18.6 billion budget for the state. The blueprint for the next fiscal year includes deep cuts at state agencies, and using federal stimulus money to prop-up Medicaid and education.

But in the big picture, the just-released bad revenue numbers from April don’t bode well for fiscal 2010. State Senator Jack Hill is the Senate Appropriations Chair.

"We’re still not only in danger of not making revenue estimate for this year but we’re now under revenue estimate for 2010 which starts in July and there’s a whole set of problems that creates."

Senator Hill says if the trend doesn’t radically change over the next two months, the state would likely have to use up the $560 million in rainy day funds. Lawmakers then would have to rework the 2010 budget with two options in mind--call a special session to move more stimulus funds from 2011 back into the 2010 budget, or take a hard look at state government and do more cutting.

Should State Reconsider Its Sales Tax?

A prominent Georgia Republican says it may be time to reconsider the state's sales tax structure. State Sen. Jack Hill, said Thursday Georgia's sluggish sales tax receipts suggest that the state's system does not reflect how residents spend their money. He said the timing is right for a commission to give it a look. Hill says sales tax collections aren't keeping track with rapid growth in the state. In the last fiscal year, they were down 2.3 percent from the year before.

(Associated Press)

Republican leaders exchange written threats

A letter has renewed the budget battle between top state lawmakers and Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Six of the state's most powerful legislators—all Republicans—have sent a memo to state agency heads warning them not to stray from the budget passed by the General Assembly back in April.

That bill contained lawmaker's instructions on how agencies should spend their money. But Perdue told agencies to disregard it. He says the state constitution does not give lawmakers the authority to issue spending instructions.

In this memo, Sens. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), and Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), and Reps. Mark Burkhalter (R-Duluth), Jerry Keen (R-St. Simon's Island) and Ben Harbin (R-Evans) remind agencies that the General Assembly hold their purse strings, and will not hesitate to tighten them in January, when the legislature revisits the state budget.

Here is an excerpt from the memo:

You should be aware that any expenditure conflicting with the intent of the appropriation jeopardizes our confidence in your ability to act as a proper steward of public funds. In writing the 2008 Amended Budget, we reserve the option of reducing or eliminating funding for your agency by that amount.

Confused agency directors called Perdue's office. The governor shot back at lawmakers with his own letter.

An appropriation consists of (1) a recipient, (2) a purpose, and (3) an amount. Language beyond these three criteria is neither authorized by constitutional or statutory law, nor is it binding….In sum, it was within my authority to strike certain earmarks because the information language is not part of the appropriation.

In other words, Perdue says that he is sticking to his guns. But his spokesman, Burt Brantley, strikes a conciliatory note.

"We want to work issues out with the legislature," he says. "We do not want agencies to have to choose between one or the other. That is a tough position to be in."

Brantley says lawmakers know the governor is willing to work with them. Perdue ends his letter by saying that his door remains open.