Revenue Plummet in March

Georgia revenues continue to plunge. State money managers reported on Wednesday that tax collections for the month of March dropped 14.5 percent. That's a decrease of $167 million from the same month the year before. For the fiscal year, revenues are off 8 percent.

(AP)

State Revenues Down 14%

Georgia's tax collections plummeted in January. Revenues tumbled 14.3 percent - or $262 million - from the same month the year before. The drop could mean even deeper cuts to the state's beleagured budget. State officials are already slashing about $2 billion in state spending. That has led to the elimination of programs and the furloughing of state employees.

(Associated Press)

"Stabilized" state revenue figures come with concern

New state revenue figures show improvement out of October. But that good news comes wrapped with strong concern for the coming months.

Georgia tax collections dipped only slightly over a year’s time, down 0.1 percent--or just over a million dollars. It follows good revenue figures out of September.

But those numbers mostly reflect the state’s economy BEFORE the bulk of the national market-meltdown struck and resulting trickle-down effect. Kenneth Heaghney is Governor Sonny Perdue’s fiscal economist:

"We’ve seen the national economy show signs of entering this significant recession, and that certainly creates concerns that Georgia will follow, and that revenues will follow as well."

Heaghney points out sectors within the construction industry had begun to moderate, but that again was before the market collapse.

The state has lost about $1.1 million dollars since the new fiscal year began July 1st. Perdue already has directed state agencies to tighten belts by six-percent, but that could increase if the economy worsens.

Education board to discuss budget cuts

The state’s budget troubles will force Georgia’s school board to meet this week to figure how to deal with pending education cuts. The state Department of Education will meet and try to come up with a plan to cut up to 171-million dollars from the state K-12 budget. For Georgia as a whole, Governor Sonny Perdue has called for all agencies to cut six-percent from its budgets, in trying to deal with lagging state revenues and an expected 1.6 billion dollar shortfall.

Utilities raise rates as conservation cuts profits

Utility rates are spiking as water companies work to make up lost revenue from this year's drought. The revenue drop is due largely to people using less water in an effort to conserve. In Gainesville north of Atlanta, the utility system's debt is set to rise 12.5 % and revenue is down 7.2 %. Atlanta is aiming to raise rates 27.5%.

Revenue falls flat, state budget to fall short

Tough economic news for Georgia today. Revenue collections were flat in February. Governor Sonny Perdue says Georgia did not have the growth officials predicted. That means this year's budget is set to be 2% short through July. It's also bad news for state lawmakers trying to finalize a mid-year budget.

State revenue collections flat for December

Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of December 2007 totaled $1,634,867,000 dollars. That’s up just about 500 thousand dollars over December of last year or only a fraction of a percentage.

Overall, however, officials say state revenue for the year is up by 4.2%.

August revenue figures

Georgia’s August revenue figures are out, and they’re up from last year. Governor Sonny Perdue says net revenue collections for August totaled nearly $1,354,000 dollars. That’s up 6% from last August. Revenue collections are up overall by 8.2%.