State budget slash cutting into jobs

Georgia agencies are preparing for sharp budget cuts by freezing open positions, slashing travel expenses, delaying new hiring and even ordering state employees to take time off without pay.

The cuts are a reflection of Georgia's mounting $1.6 billion budget deficit, which forced Gov. Sonny Perdue to order most state agencies to cut their budgets by six percent. Perdue also warned the agencies to prepare for broader cuts if tax collections continue to plummet.

The reduced budgets are due next month and agencies are still scrambling to prepare their reductions. But some have already started notifying employees of their plans, and they give a bleak glimpse at the state's financial woes.

Most state agencies are already putting plans in place to freeze new hiring and restrict travel expenses. Many will also have to cut programs to meet the reductions.

Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox is preparing to slash roughly $153 million, which could sap funding for a teacher mentoring program, new charter schools and graduation coaches aimed at reducing dropout rates.

The Department of Human Resources has already asked some employees to take a day off without pay each month, said spokeswoman Taka Wiley. So has Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who said he might be forced to ask staffers to take up to three furlough days each month.

"It's spreading the cost," he said. "Do you put it all on the backs of a few people, or do you have everybody equally contribute? We thought it was more equitable to have everyone equally contribute."

Agency heads have also launched more inventive ways to slash spending.

Human resources officials have staved off new vehicle purchases. Oxendine is restricting printing and purchasing to manilla folders instead of more expensive colored ones. And parks supervisors are considering closing parks and hiking fees.

"We're going to have to do more than freeze positions and cut travel to get there," said Beth Brown, a spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources.

Perdue said he has had little choice but to order the cuts, which also include a 5 percent reduction in Medicaid funding and 2 percent cuts to education funding for local schools.

Lagging tax collections have already forced Perdue to use $600 million in reserve funds to make ends meet, and there's little hope the fiscal tide is turning: Georgia's revenues fell another 6.6 percent for the month of July.

He's also under increasing pressure from legislators - and some department heads - to call for a special legislative session.

Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, a Democrat, said legislators need to reconvene to erase the hundreds of new employees approved in the latest budget.

"If we didn't have them before, why do we have to have them now," said Irvin, who has already cut the three new positions his department was expected to receive.

As the sluggish economy continues to lag, though, this may just be the first round of budget cuts.

"The things we're talking about now are the easy things," said Alan Essig, director of the nonpartisan Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. "They are not the more sweeping cuts that are most likely inevitable."

The institute is among the loudest supporters of a special session to raise state funds. Among its suggestions: Hiking the cigarette tax or eliminating a new $428 million property tax credit program.

"If revenue is off the table," Essig said, "it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the budget.

(The Associated Press)

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)

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.

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.

Lawyers, lawmakers disagree on funding death-penalty defense

When the director of the state agency that defends poor people in death-penalty cases stepped down last week, he said budget cuts were compromising lawyers' ability to help their clients.

The budget "is grossly inadequate to allow us to satisfy our statutory and constitutional mandates," Chris Adams wrote in a letter to the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that doesn't necessarily make it fact," said Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) in response. "I understand when people have tough jobs to do and have to find creative ways to do their jobs that pressure gets to them, and apparently the pressure got to him."

Seabaugh is chairing a committee that is rethinking Georgia's system of defending poor people accused of crimes. Members held their first hearing last week. They voiced concerns that Georgia is spending too much money on public defense. Although he will not name names, Seabaugh says some individuals are trying to make defending people in capitol cases look extremely expensive because they oppose the death penalty.

Georgia Capital Defenders received $4.3 million this year, which is less than half the money the agency had requested. A big chunk of the funds are being spent on the defense of Brian Nichols, who is accused of a killing spree at the Fulton County Courthouse.

Even without the record-breaking costs of the Nichols case, however, officials say there would still be a money crunch. State defenders are representing 79 other people in death-penalty cases too.

"We intend to do everything we can to do the job we've been asked to do in term of capital defense representation with the money we have," says Wilson DuBose, who chairs the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. "We do intend to ask for more money in the future."

But state law restricts the amount of money the agency can request. DuBose says it will ask for an increase of $190,000. He hopes to increase communication with lawmakers so that they will have a better understanding of the work public defenders do. DuBose believes they will listen.

"If we can provide information to substantiate our needs, I believe they will respond," he says.

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.

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.

Public defenders council set to lose jobs

Georgia’s public defender council will lay-off 16 attorneys and five staff members--it’s all in the effort to help deal with budget cuts. Employees of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council were told Friday the jobs would be cut June 30th. Those losing their jobs are from the Metro Conflict Office, which helps with multi-defendant cases. A nine-million dollar budget for that division only got 5.4 million from the state this year. Nearly 19-hundred defendants could be affected with no legal representation.

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.

State jobs cut in Macon

Twenty-five state employees in Macon are losing their jobs. The Georgia Professional Licensing Boards are headquartered in Macon. The state agency oversees licensing for many professions like nursing, dentistry and accounting. The boards are staffed by 132 employees. Now nearly 20-percent of those workers are being let go. The Georgia Secretary of State's office oversees the boards and decided to make the cuts. They go into effect on November 1st. The changes were not supposed to go into effect until next year, but the Secretary of state's office decided to implement them early following the Governor's call for a 6-percent budget reduction by all state agencies.

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.

Martin says he's ready to take on Chambliss

When Jim Martin took over Georgia's Department of Human Resources in 2001, some friends were surprised. Running the state's unwieldy social services bureaucracy is seen as a sure ticket to political oblivion.

But for Martin it was a no-brainer.

"I've always taken the hard jobs where I thought I could make a difference," Martin said.

Labeled "a nice guy" by friends and foes alike, the bespectacled Martin is soft-spoken and almost professorial. Even supporters quietly worry he lacks the fire to make a serious run at Republican Saxby Chambliss in November. Martin, 62, already lost one statewide race - the 2006 contest for lieutenant governor - to Republican Casey Cagle.

Still, Martin insists that he's the best Democrat to defeat Chambliss and that he's up for the fight.

First he'll have to get past DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones in Tuesday's runoff. Martin pulled 34 percent of the vote in the five-man Democratic primary held July 15. Jones earned 40 percent of the vote.

Martin has been portrayed as the hand-picked candidate of the Democratic leaders in Washington. He only entered the Senate race in April after being lobbied by party leaders who also pledged financial backing.

But Martin said he's no reluctant campaigner. He held out, he said, because he figured former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes might enter the field.

"I knew what it was going to take to run statewide and I was willing to take that on because Saxby Chambliss needs to be defeated," Martin said in an interview with The Associated Press. "If someone with the stature of Roy Barnes had decided to get into the race there was no sense in me getting in."

He won his first campaign for the statehouse in 1982 - a 10-way race for a legislative seat representing parts of Atlanta. He went on to spend the next 18 years in the Legislature, rising to chair a key legal committee, while also maintaining a private law practice.

In 2001, his political track changed when then-Gov. Barnes called Martin to tell him that the state human resources commissioner had resigned.

"I said well, governor you need to do a national search but I want to apply. And the line sort of went dead he got so quiet," Martin recalled. "It was seen as a political dead end. But I had a passion for all of those programs."

He took over the department in September 2001 and soon had to implement deep budget cuts as the nation's economy struggled in the aftermath of the terror attacks.

Martin said he worked to streamline department operations, such as child support collections, to save money and help alleviate the impact of budget cuts on the children the department served.

But Jones and other political opponents have criticized Martin for heading the department at a time when children died under his watch.

Martin responded by saying those figures stayed flat while he was commissioner, and that he worked to make the investigations more transparent.

Normer Adams, executive director of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children, praised Martin's leadership of the department.

"He was instrumental in moving DHR into the modern era when it came to child welfare," Adams said.

Still, Martin resigned under pressure following the beating deaths of two young children in state care. The deaths came after child welfare officials had received repeated complaints. He said he has no ill feelings about his departure and is proud of his tenure.

He said it's that experience - combined with his campaign for lieutenant governor - that prepared him for the Senate bid.

"I am plenty tough enough to take on Saxby Chambliss, make no mistake about it," he said.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB election coverage.

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.

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.

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.

Synovus, Capital One cutting Columbus jobs

Columbus-based Synovus Financial Corporation said Wednesday they were cutting back 230 positions.

Company officials say that’s out of 650 posts in total among their five-state operation, and that over half the losses were due to attrition. The cutback will be spread over the next two years.

Synovus is Georgia’s second-largest banking institution.

In addition, The Associated Press reports that Capital One it will close its GreenPoint Mortgage
servicing center in Columbus, eliminating 220 jobs by the end of the year, including customer service, production support, collections and investor reporting.

Atlanta-based Simmons Bedding also plans to close its Mableton plant and lay off 103 employees this month.

Simmons Chairman and CEO Charlie Eitel says the Sept. 18 layoffs come amid "excess capacity" after the company expanded operations, and "difficult times" in the bedding and home furnishings industries.

Local manufacturing will move to plants in Waycross and Charlotte, N.C. The plant had reduced shifts from two to one this spring, cut about 50 jobs and transferred operations to a plant in Dallas.

The cutbacks come as 59,090 Georgians filed first-time unemployment claims in August, according to Department of Labor officials - a 72-percent rise since last year.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the latest job cuts.

(The AP contributed to this report)

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.

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.