Lawmakers predict more tough choices
Though state lawmakers endured a General Assembly session that one member of Columbia County's legislative delegation Thursday called the most difficult he's ever experienced, more tough decisions are on the horizon.
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"We've had a difficult time, and we have a difficult time in front of us," state Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, said of the budget crisis legislators faced this year.
In his 15 years as a state lawmaker, the chairman of House Appropriations told those attending the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce Post Legislative Breakfast that he had never experienced a tougher year.
In the wake of lower revenues, lawmakers hacked $2.6 billion from the state budget.
Balancing the state's budget at $18.6 billion was akin to a surgeon excising "fat and some of the lean without killing the patient," said state Rep. Bill Jackson, R-Appling, who also spoke at the breakfast meeting.
Part of the balancing act included one-time spending cuts, accepting federal stimulus money and siphoning $1.6 billion from the state's reserve fund. Harbin said he expects officials to dip into the reserve again.
The reserve fund currently contains $775 million. But Harbin said Gov. Sonny Perdue likely will pull from the reserve to make up a $500 million shortfall in this year's budget, and more will be needed for school systems with midyear adjustments based on student population shifts.
Once a new legislative session starts in January, the state's reserves likely will have fallen to about $50 million, Harbin said.
"That's not a good position to be in," he said, adding that a special session of the General Assembly might be needed to resolve the funding issues.
Tax revenues have been in near free-fall since December 2008, when receipts were down 8 percent compared with the previous year, Harbin said. Revenues fell 14.3 percent in January, 34.8 percent in February and 14.5 percent in March, he added.
Recently, the state announced April revenues fell an additional 20.6 percent compared with April 2008 figures, Harbin said.
But not all the news was bad, he said.
The state managed to maintain an AAA bond rating, and Harbin said he expects lawmakers to institute a funding method to meet the state's transportation needs after the 2010 legislative session.