Economist: Effect of Stimulus Dollars Months Off

Federal stimulus dollars are starting to roll into Georgia. But it could be a while until the money helps the state’s economy. Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are ramping up state projects like making buildings more energy efficient to building roads.

They’re creating jobs and that means more tax dollars. But it could be months until we see its effect on revenues.

"Part of it is the lag when the cash comes in and it shows up in paychecks and spending," said professor of Economics at Mercer University Roger Tutterow, "and then of course there’s a lag between when that occurs and the state actually gets their cuts and reflects it in their tax revenue collections."

Case in point, the Department of Transportation. It got $62 million in May, and the first of 41 projects just started last week--- workers began repaving a road south of Atlanta. The project allowed a state contractor to keep 25 employees and create 3 new jobs. DOT officials do expect the remaining 40 projects to begin this month.

Widespread Cuts to State Parks

As summer tourism gears up, expect higher fees and fewer services at Georgia's parks and historic sites. 12 percent of employees will lose their jobs, most of those left will be furloughed, five parks will limit access, and 12 historic sites will cut operational days. The state Department of Natural Resources is making the cuts to cope with a nearly 39 percent reduction in state appropriations and a 24 percent projected loss of revenue.

(Associated Press)

Georgia State Cuts Staff Positions

Georgia State University in Atlanta says it will cut 300 staff positions to help deal with a reduction in state funding. The move will save the school $9-million. A school spokeswoman says only 30 of those jobs are currently filled, and that no full-time faculty will be cut. GSU has 27,000 students, but is losing $37-million in state funding for the new fiscal year. The school has 3,400 employees.

GBPI: Tax Cuts Mean Service Cuts

A new report released Monday shows proposed tax cuts would cost Georgia some 1.5 billion dollars over the next five years.

The report comes from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, an organization that looks at how state spending impacts government services. The group is concerned
about a pair of legislative bills that would give companies that hire out of work employees a 2400 dollar tax credit and cut the capital gains tax in half.

Conservative lawmakers who designed this plan say it would create at least two thousand jobs in the state. It's now on the Governor's desk waiting for his approval. GBPI's Allen Essig says the Governor needs to continue "being a responsible budget Governor. If he signs these bills, it will guarantee the state will have untennable deficits in the future."

Essig says that would mean a reduction in education, road and health care funding. Governor Sonny Perdue has not indicated what action he will take. The Governor's press office did not return calls for comment.

Habitat for Humanity Cuts Workers

Habitat for Humanity International has eliminated about 10 percent of its staff to reduce its operating costs to better weather the economic downturn. The organization says in a statement that 73 jobs were cut Tuesday. Habitat for Humanity is based in Americus, in southwest Georgia.


(Associated Press)

Caterpillar To Close Plants In Jefferson, Griffin

Griffin and Jefferson will be the Georgia cities affected when heavy equipment maker Caterpillar lays-off more than 2,400 employees nationwide this year. Caterpillar Tuesday announced plans for the cuts at five U.S. plants, including two in Georgia.

The company’s fuel systems plant in Jefferson will close, putting 89 workers out of jobs by the end of June. In Spalding County, Caterpillar’s engine facility there will close its doors, putting another 200 out of work when the calendar hits May.

Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Illinois, says it is restructuring operations in the face of the economic downturn.

Suburban Thoroughfare Symbolizes Mixed Signals for Immigrants

Odilio Perez aches for a life beyond Buford Highway, a six-lane stretch of strip malls and ethnic diversity that cuts through three counties in Georgia.

The Guatemalan man settled along the artery leading out of Atlanta more than a decade ago, answering the call of local officials who used the springboard of the 1996 Summer Olympics to make immigrants a centerpiece of the community's rebirth. Vacant car lots and whitewashed stores gave way to affordable apartments, an eclectic mix of shops and towering business signs that are a study in polyglot.

"I've lived and worked here for 10 years without a problem," Mr. Perez, 33, said recently in the English he has learned since entering the country illegally. "I'd love to be a citizen, if I had a chance. But I went to a lawyer but he told me there's just no way."

Mr. Perez is part of a massive movement of immigrants who have bypassed traditional destinations in favor of the South.

Perhaps no place captures the transformation as vividly as Buford Highway.

People on both sides of the immigration debate say the highway is unique in its array of groups, and even more significant as an 8-mile example of the conflicting signals immigrants receive about whether they're wanted.

The highway was born when the Olympics peppered the Atlanta area with construction jobs, fueling a 300 percent increase in the Hispanic population in Georgia.

Officials in the working-class suburb of Chamblee saw opportunity and tailored their municipal codes to harness the convergence of newcomers.

The industrial businesses that were the highway's main employers had shut down in the 1980s and early 1990s. As the Games approached, Asian merchants attracted by inexpensive leases and a steady traffic conduit established restaurants and shops along the highway.

Latino workers added to the dynamic. They lived in dilapidated apartments along the road. A few squatted in the woods.

Tension surfaced at City Hall meetings. Longtime residents didn't want empty lots, but they didn't want foreign encampments either.

In response, Chamblee hired its first city manager, Kathy Brannon.

She cracked down on flophouse landlords and strictly enforced loitering rules. Then the city enacted sweeping zoning that permitted retail and new apartments in the same area.

By the end of the 1990s, Chamblee had established a zone dubbed the "International Village," home to nearly 1,000 people, mostly immigrants.

Ms. Brannon, who is to retire this year, has left her successor with an outline for the next vision of Buford Highway: more green space and fewer strip malls, all meant to make the area not just a destination for immigrants but for Atlantans hungry for diversity.

Since the year Ms. Brannon established the International Village, nationwide workplace arrests on immigration violations have increased fivefold, and deportations of suspected illegal immigrants have doubled, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

In 2006, law enforcement agencies in the Southeast enlisted in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement partnership that allows local officers to interview and fingerprint foreign-born people they detain.

The stepped-up enforcement has contributed to a decade-long backlog in legal residency applications and, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a wait list of about 1 million for citizenship.

Nikki Nguyen, 54, a Vietnam war refugee who petitioned for years to enter the U.S., filed to sponsor her sister to join her in the U.S. 12 years ago. The case is still pending.

Construction has dried up, and Buford Highway sometimes looks like it did in the old days.

But few immigrant workers plan to leave. With families here, a network of employers and several years invested in Chamblee's immigrant vision, their fortunes are aligned with the highway's.

"This country says it doesn't want us, but when there's a job to be done, it needs us," said Mr. Perez. "We see the two faces of this country up close, and it's sometimes hard to know which is the real one."

(AP)

1-K Jobs To Be Cut At Milledgeville Plant

Rheem Manufacturing says it will close its plant in Millegeville by year’s end, putting 1,200 people out of work. The layoffs will be in phases, beginning in May. Production of heating and cooling units will continue at Rheem plants in Arkansas and Mexico. These job cuts come as Georgia deals with record-high unemployment--currently a rate of 8.6 percent.

More Jobs Coming to Columbus, Norcross

Two companies have announced in recent days that they would soon add several hundred jobs in Georgia.

YesVideo, a company that converts home movies and videos to DVDs and other digital formats, will bring 300 jobs to Norcross next month.

The Santa Clara, Ca.-based firm says they have has 30,000 retail locations including Walgreens, Costco and CVS.

"Metro Atlanta is well-centered, geographically, to service the entire eastern seaboard, Midwest, and south central areas with cost-effective ground logistics," YesVideo Chief Operating Officer Gregory Ayres said.

On Friday, Kodak announced that they were ramping up a third production line at their Columbus plant.

Kodak officials say the just-completed $15 million dollar investment will add another 50 jobs in coming years, bringing the total staffing to 300.

The facility makes digital plates for the printing industry.

On the red side of the employment ledger, however, JP Morgan Chase says they plan to close a credit card customer service center in Kennesaw by mid-2010, eliminating 730 jobs.

The center primarily worked with the now defunct electronics retailer, Circuit City.

Chase didn’t say when the cuts would begin, but says employees will be eligible to apply for other jobs in the company.

(The AP contributed to this report)

Click here for more GPB News coverage about Georgia's economy.

Salmonella Outbreak Highlights Inspector Shortage

Tight state budgets have led some of the biggest farm states to leave dozens of food inspection jobs vacant at a time when hundreds have been sickened by a nationwide salmonella outbreak tied to a filthy peanut processing plant.

Georgia, the site of the plant, has about 60 inspectors for some 16,000 sites, while budget cuts have forced the state agriculture department to keep 15 inspector positions vacant.

California, Texas and Florida are among other states facing the same problems while food experts say the federal government relies increasingly on states to monitor the nation's food supply.

"You can only shift the pawns on the table so many times before the game catches up with you," Georgia deputy Agriculture Commissioner Oscar Garrison told legislators earlier this month while asking for more money to hire inspectors.

The salmonella outbreak linked to Peanut Corp. of America has sickened hundreds, may have caused nine deaths and prompted one of the largest food recalls in the nation's history. Federal investigators have launched a criminal investigation, and Virginia-based Peanut Corp. faces mounting lawsuits and a bankruptcy filing.

Food safety experts warn each loss of an inspector increases the possibility that food problems could elude detection.

In the Georgia salmonella case, a state inspector found only minor problems when she probed the Blakely plant in October for less than two hours; less than three months later federal agents found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other problems.

Almost every state legislature in the country is staring down budget deficits and scraping funds for schools, roads and other public safety areas, like prisons and police. Food safety is a tough sell.

"It's getting pretty dire out there," said Doug Farquhar, an analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures. "With the salmonella scare, you'd think that now would be the time they'd say we need to invest in food safety. But the opposite is going on."

The belt-tightening comes at an inconvenient time.

The federal government increasingly relies on food safety inspections performed by states, where budgets for inspections have remained stagnant and overburdened officials have less training than their federal counterparts.

For officials in Georgia, the deadly outbreak has led to some soul searching.

Legislators have floated proposals to deputize county health officials so they can quickly pursue food safety tips.

And Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said his department will focus more on food safety inspections and less on other duties, such as monitoring out-of-date foods. Leading lawmakers say they hope to boost inspections, despite budget cuts.

Inspectors are "referees of the food game," said Joseph Hotchkiss, a food science professor at Cornell University who once worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"There's no way for us as individuals to know much about our food — how it's manufactured and prepared — without these people we hire. And with fewer of those people, that could in general result in an increased risk."

(AP)

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the effects of the salmonella outbreak in Georgia.

Georgia Republicans want their own stimulus package

After waiting for the federal stimulus bill to be passed due to the multi-billion dollar budget shortfall, Georgia lawmakers now have a state Republican stimulus package to consider.

Their version focuses more on tax cuts than spending.

Businesses would get tax breaks for hiring unemployed workers, start ups could register their names for free, and the corporate income tax and state inventory tax would be eliminated. It currently brings in over 600 million dollars, says Rep. Tom Graves.

The Republican from Ranger wrote the bill, and he says, he's not sure how many jobs will be created by eliminating the taxes.


"But I have had many business people tell me that is one of their more difficult taxes and they can't stand that tax," Graves said.

Graves says hundreds of jobs could have been saved this year if those taxes were already eliminated. Graves plan is in the House Ways and Means committee.

Columbus Job Fair: Officials Optimistic, Despite Cuts

Applicants looking for work throng the hall of the Columbus Trade and Convention Center, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 1009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

More than 2,500 job-seekers attended a job fair held in Columbus Thursday. Employers from the area, as well as out-of-state and national firms were at the event, held at the city’s convention center.

Department of Labor officials say some 55 companies, from Aflac and local hospitals, to local and Atlanta MARTA police departments, to Georgia Power and employment agencies are taking job applications.


Miguel Flores (facing) of Fort Benning assists a job-seeker at the Columbus job fair, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Fort Benning's Warrior Transition Battalion has a representative here as well, to aid troops in making the sometimes complex conversion from uniform to civvies.

There are also representatives from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in nearby Lumpkin, and the Florida Highway Patrol.

The large-scale fair is held several times a year, and Labor Department officials say while the turnout by employers is a little more than half last year's showing – they’re optimistic that employers and applicants will be introduced to each other.


Applicants submitting resumes to company online websites. (Photo: Dave Bender)

To that end, they’ve set up a bank of computers for applicants to go directly to the companies’ websites, and set up interviews there, as well.

Many of the job-seekers are either in, or soon after college, and some have recently completed military service.

Celeste Edge of Columbus is looking has a degree in Communications and wants a position in her field:

"It’s been ok; I’ve talked to a couple of people who seem a little promising, like the hospital and one of the staffing agencies who thinks they might be able to place me – but, you know – I’m just hoping for the best."

There were many resumes and handshakes, and many people filled in applications online.

Jim Huntzinger of the DOL is one of the fair’s organizers, and says they’re trying hard to lower jobless rates:

"We have 55 employers here, with, as i say, with the economic situation, is, I think, fantastic. And it’s 55 employers that have jobs."

Some came away frustrated from the experience, though.

Eric Harris of Columbus recently finished the Army and is studying criminal law at Troy University; he got a lot of what he calls “headnoes”:

"...that’s everybody shaking their heads, saying, ‘No; go online; we don’t have any applications, we’re not hiring…so it’s like, I’m very discouraged at this point so I’m just thinking about dropping school and going back in the military – and I’m, not the only one feeling like this. There’s a lot of others in there stressing the same thing about their feeling the same disappointment at this job fair – they need to do better."

About 3,000 people turned out for last year's job fair, and Department of Labor officials say they’ll hold a similar job fair in May.

Kia Motors' tier-one supplier, Sewon American, will accept applications for 400 to 600 production workers for a car parts factory that will open in a few months.

They'll be taking applications next week in Lagrange.

The Kia plant in West Point is about half an hour north of Columbus, and is set to open its doors in the late fall.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the job situation.

Cessna to Cut Jobs in Columbus

Cessna Skyhawk (Illustration)

Cessna Aircraft says they plan to lay off about 100 workers at their plant in Columbus. There are 650 employees at the west Georgia facility, which make sheet metal parts for their light aircraft.

The job cuts are part of the Kansas-based firm’s effort to trim their workforce by 2,000 – or about 13 percent.

Cessna officials say the worldwide economic downturn is forcing customers to cancel or delay orders for new aircraft.

Cessna employs about 15,000 people worldwide.

The company also plans to order employee furloughs, beginning in March, although details haven't been released.

Workers being laid off will receive 60-day notices within the next few weeks, Cessna spokesman Robert Stangarone said in a telephone interview, adding that the cuts will be spread "across all areas and all salary levels."

Click here for more GPB News coverage about business in Columbus.

Officials: Plains State Visitor To Remain Open

In Georgia Public Broadcasting Radio’s occasional “MoneyCrunch” series, which airs on Georgia Gazette news magazine weekday evenings at 6 P.M., we explore the effects of proposed budget cuts on communities and constituents around the state.


Duck pond in front of the Georgia Visitor Information Center at Plains. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Last week, an obscure state law saved a state welcome center in Plains from the chopping block, to help cover a $2.2 billion shortfall in the 2010 budget.


Entrance to visitor center. (Photo: Dave Bender)

But, on Monday, officials at the Georgia Department of Economic Development said The Georgia Visitor Information Center will remain open, despite a pending recommendation to slash its $186,000 budget.


Democratic State Sen. George Hooks at the Capitol. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Americus state Senator, George Hooks cites a 1977 statute that says Georgia, by law, must have a visitor center in any town whose resident becomes a president:

“'...and it shall be,' - not 'may be,' but 'shall be,' - maintained and supplied with materials," Hooks told legislators.

Those materials feature the state’s charms in hundreds of glossy tourism magazines, colorful photos and souvenirs.

A visitor’s center at Sylvania was also facing closure. The two centers are among eleven similar facilities around the state.

The GDEcD’s Alison Tyrer, however, says her office would like to keep both the Sylvania and Plains centers open:

”We are looking at all possible options for both centers. However, it’s very early in the legislative process so we would prefer not to speculate on what those options might be at this time,” Tyrer said in a written comment on the issue.

The Plains center is a replica of a rustic wooden farmhouse, surrounded by fields and piney woods. A pastoral two-lane road out front links the town to nearby Americus. The road, and the parking lot of the 31-year-old building are both empty on this Monday afternoon.


Map, pins and and "Post-its" left by guests who have visited the site. Penny Smith, who manages the facility, is behind the desk. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Manager Penny Smith sits inside and waits for tourists:

“…you don’t get bored, because it’s God’s nature… and that’s why the visitors love it so much, because you’re in another world, and when you’re here you don’t think about the outside; what’s going on outside this area - it’s just peace and harmony and such a wonderful feeling…”

She's worked here for eight years, and says the visitor center is her whole world. Smith shared her patch of Georgia with 56,000 folks who stopped by last year:

"Our visitors are 'destination visitors;' they're not just stopping to go to the restroom or get a roadmap. They're here to spend time and money and see what there is to see in the state."

Sign of town's pride. (Photo: Dave Bender)

The biggest local attraction is former President Jimmy Carter, who lives in Plains with former First Lady Rosalynn.

While a National Park Service visitors center closer to Carter’s home focuses on the 39th president, Smith says her facility offers a lot more:

"When we have the visitors captured here, we use that time to tell them about other places in Americus, down the road; make motel, hotel reservations – just service the visitor overall. They don’t do that at the park service.”

Their money's part of more than thirty-four billion tourism dollars that Georgia raked in last year. Those dollars paid for almost 250,000 jobs – among them, Smith’s and two assistants.

Plains peanut processing facility and road sign on the way to the visitor center. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Plains Mayor Boze Godwin says the 700 residents of his struggling rural town – and the vicinity - need every tourist dollar that comes through the center:

“I think it’s important not only for Plains, but for the whole county because they do refer people to businesses here. In the past we had a tog shop here, and that closed – but they would send people to that to buy clothes – so they helped the whole area, not just Plains … and they do a great job.”

Hooks, Godwin and Smith hope that statute will be enough to keep the visitor center open to greet the next busload of tourists.

Click here for more GPB news coverage of the state budget.

Commerce Hospital Cuts Jobs

45 jobs have been cut from a northeast Georgia hospital due to what it says is declining revenue from Medicare and Medicaid. The BJC Medical Center in Commerce says it provided more than $1.3 million in services to indigent patients last year. The hospital also says it absorbed $5 million in losses from unpaid medical bills. Support staff took the brunt of the cuts, but positions were also eliminated from medical staff. The Commerce hospital has a staff of about 400.

Dire economy led Georgia news in '08

The vast economic crisis has left scores of Georgia's houses empty, its banks shuttered and sent thousands of its residents searching for jobs even as its unemployment rate balloons to heights not seen since Ronald Reagan was president.

The nationwide recession was the top Georgia news story of 2008, according to state editors and news directors voting in The Associated Press' annual survey.

Other stories high on most lists included an energy crisis that sent gas prices on a roller-coaster ride, the U.S. Senate runoff that thwarted Democratic plans for a super-majority in the Senate and the months-long trial of courthouse gunman Brian Nichols.

Yet the economic doldrums was the top choice for seven of 12 Georgia AP members participating in the news cooperative's survey.

Georgia residents began feeling the economic fallout early this year as a growing number of homes remained unsold and credit grew tighter. Firms fired workers, governments furloughed staffers, foreclosures spiked and the state unemployment rate soared to 7.5 percent - the highest in 25 years.

The bleak economy forced regulators to close down five state banks, and led Gov. Sonny Perdue to order spending cuts of at least 6 percent to narrow a deficit that could top $2 billion in 2009.

The new year is unlikely to bring much relief. State economists warn unemployment will climb higher and housing prices will continue to plummet through the first half of 2009.

Volatile energy prices were the No. 2 story of the year. The topsy-turvy fuel market sent the price of crude soaring to as high as $150 a barrel in July before crashing to $33 this month.

The jump in prices, which soared after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike shuttered Gulf Coast refineries, sparked panic among Georgia drivers. Gas stations advertised fuel at $8 a gallon, while some drivers camped out at gas stations to be first in line for new deliveries.

Georgia's seemingly endless U.S. Senate campaign notched the No. 3 spot.

Residents headed to the polls four times to vote on the Senate contest, beginning with the July primaries and ending with a Dec. 2 runoff when Saxby Chambliss was elected to a second Senate term. The Republican's victory over Jim Martin deprived Democrats of a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority.

The conviction and sentencing of Brian Nichols for a deadly shooting spree that began in the Fulton County Courthouse was the year's No. 4 story.

After more than three years and a tangled trail of legal delays, a jury found Nichols guilty of murder. But it deadlocked over whether he deserves the death penalty, forcing a judge to sentence him to life in prison without parole. Now some legislators are intent on changing the state's death penalty rules.

The stubborn drought still squeezing parts of the state emerged as the No. 5 story of the year. While a soggy December helped elevate most of the region from the epic conditions, much of north Georgia - including devastated Lake Lanier - remains in a "severe" drought.

The No. 6 story was the deadly explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in February near Savannah that killed 14 workers and injured dozens more. Investigators determined the blast was caused by sugar dust that ignited like gunpowder in the plant's storage silos.

The presidential election, which dominated national headlines, was voted the No. 7 story in Georgia. Democrat Barack Obama's campaign recruited thousands of volunteers focused on turning the state blue, but Republican John McCain managed to claim Georgia's 15 electoral votes.

The No. 8 story of the year broke just hours after New Year's Day.

Meredith Emerson was abducted while walking with her dog that day in the north Georgia mountains, and police later found her body. Authorities soon arrested Gary Michael Hilton, who is now serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to her murder.

The Delta Air Lines merger with Northwest Airlines took the No. 9 slot, as the combination made the Atlanta-based carrier the world's largest airline. It completed a remarkable turnaround for Delta, which had filed for bankruptcy in 2005.

Clayton County's education woes was the year's tenth-ranked story. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools revoked the county's accreditation after it failed to meet a range of recommendations. More than 3,200 students have since bolted.

Stories close to making the list included convicted murderer Troy Davis' efforts to get a new trial and avoid execution, a legislative session that again ended in gridlock and an explosion at a Dalton law firm that killed the person responsible and injured four others.

(AP)

Ga. Power applying for biomass plant permits

Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)

Georgia Power Company wants to trade in coal for woodchips to fuel a power plant near Albany. The company is investing in bio mass technology with the hope of saving money.

While bio mass is considered a cleaner fuel source compared to coal, Georgia Power believes it could also be a cheaper solution for producing electricity.

Plant Mitchell turbine area: only one of the facilities three yellow turbines is operational. (Dave Bender)

On a tour of Plant Mitchell in nearby Albany, manager Ronnie Walston explains that Georgia’s millions of acres of forests could be used to power energy producing turbines.

Plant Mitchell water boilers. Coal or wood biomass is heated at the bottom. (Dave Bender)

Currently, the company is experimenting by burning wood chips and similar waste products instead of coal to heat water in the plant's three–story-high boilers. Walston, shouting over the roar of steam turbines in the background:

“The generator takes high-pressure steam from the boiler, turns the generator which delivers 155 megawatts of electrical energy to the grid in Georgia.”

The generator consumes a whopping 62-tons of coal an hour.

Plant Mitchell: Rail cars delivering coal at a siding. (Dave Bender)

After the conversion, the plant would require 160-trucks a day to haul in a million tons of wood chips. While using wood cuts the electrical output by a third, it’s enough to power an estimated 90,000 homes.

Walston says the conversion would keep the plant - which now buys its coal from Appalachia - running for years to come and help the local economy:

“…those dollars now flow out of state. Now, with the biomass – that’s currently not being utilized – will be purchased and consumed here within a 100-mile radius of Plant Mitchell, and so those dollars that previously went out of state will be staying in-state and will create some 50-to-75 jobs in the fuel-harvesting area.”

If successful, the bio mass conversion could happen in 2012.

Control panel at Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)

The plan still needs approval from the Environmental Protection Division and the Public Service Commission. A recent study by Oregon state officials show bio mass can cost up to 6.7 per kilowatt hour to produce.

Forbes Magazine ranks Georgia as the third best state in the nation for alternative energy from biomass. The article referenced the amount of privately owned forest in Georgia, more than any other state in the country, as a reason for the state’s ranking. The ranking comes on the heels of CNBC’s including Georgia in the top ten and second in the Southeast in its annual rankings of “America’s Top States for Business.”

EPA estimates show Georgian's pay 6.5 cents for coal produced electricity. The cost of biomass is expected to drop as technologies improve and more plants come online.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about biomass and related alternative energy solutions.

Hundreds laid off in Middle Georgia

Two Middle Georgia companies are laying off hundreds of workers this week. The Rheem Air Conditioning plant in Milledgeville is cutting around 400 positions. The company blames the slowdown in the economy. However, local labor officials believe the layoff's have something to do with Rheem's new, 400-thousand square foot plant set to open in Mexico in November.
Meanwhile in Macon, the city's largest employers is cutting its entire workforce by 4-percent. The Medical Center of Central Georgia told more than 200 employees from Vice-presidents to clerical workers that they no longer have jobs. The hospital says shrinking revenues, fewer patients, and government cuts have forced them to slash 33-million dollars from their budget. The Medical Center is one of just four level one trauma centers in the state.

GAs poverty rate relatively unchanged in 4 years

Four years after a national study found nearly one-third third of Georgia's working families living at or below the federal poverty line, newly released data show little has changed. The updated study titled "Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short," was funded in part by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Significant among its findings … thirty percent of working families in Georgia are low-income, putting Georgia in seventeenth place nationwide. Sarah Beth Gehl is Deputy Director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. With Georgia experiencing a budget shortfall, Gehl says now is not the time to consider cutting services to the poor. "During an economic time like this, there are going to have to be budget cuts. We understand that. But, for us, we think all options should be on the table, such as raising some revenue, using the rainy day fund. We think those options should be on the table and currently they are not." The report also found that nearly 30 percent of Georgia's jobs pay below the federal poverty level for a family of four. Those states topping the list of low-income working families are New Mexico, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas.

GDOT cuts road repairs, instead of jobs

TV monitor at budget hearings showing page of proposed 2009 draft budget, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Gena Evans today laid out proposals for recouping her department’s $456 million dollar deficit – in part.

GDOT has to cut that sum from the 2009 fiscal year, to make up for that sum in the '08 budget.

GDOT Commissioner Gena Evans holds up a folder containing the 2009 budget, at a meeting with the transportation board on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 where she put forth budget-cutting proposals. (Dave Bender)

Among the tough proposals Evans offered the board was slashing over 500 jobs – a road not taken by the transportation board:

“Oh, we’re ecstatic. We’re really thrilled. I mean, to me, every time you saw a list from us, the last thing we wanted to do was lay off employees. It’s a very difficulty decision for the board between those state aid projects, that are local, community-driven projects versus laying off employees.”

Evans explains a point in the draft budget proposal to reporters after the GDOT transportation board session on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Evans says a one-day employee furlough program was also ruled out.

GDOT spokesman David Spears, however, says the Local Assistance Road Program (LARP), which funds local and county road repairs, including pot holes, was among the major cutbacks the board agreed to:

“It’s a total of 52 million dollars that we’ll be unable to distribute to local governments in the coming year. We’re hoping we’re going to be able to identify new funding sources or new savings as we go from month to month in our budget process, and be able to redirect some of that money back into local assistance.”

Evans faced tough questioning from the board members during the morning session, including issues of protocol.

Board Member Dana Lemon, who represents the 13th Congressional District, chided Evans over forwarding the draft directly to the Office of Planning and Budget, without the board getting a look at it first:

Evans: “Ms. Lemon, I’m not sure when we would have possibly been able to get any more information…”

Lemon: “Gina, we get inundated all the time with stuff from you guys, so we could have seen it; we might not have been able to address it at a meeting, but we all could have at least looked at it, reviewed it…”

Officials say that rocky interchange is but a verbal example of the bumpy road drivers can expect on Georgia’s highways and interchanges in the coming fiscal year.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of GDOT and other transportation issues.