By Keven Gilbert
The Americus Times-Recorder
September 9, 2010
AMERICUS — Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, defended Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue Thursday as he gave a grim report of the state’s 2010 FY budget. Essig told the audience at the Americus-Sumter County Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Membership Luncheon that budget cuts will have to be made whether taxes are raised or cut. Essig said that in spite of growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last quarter and moderate growth is projected to continue, budgetary issues will continue to be bleak. “There is no robust growth,” Essig said. He projected that the budget will continue to sag until jobs come back into the workforce.
Essig said that the State’s deficit is already up to $2 billion starting the next fiscal year even though several state agencies have made significant cuts. He emphasized that without the federal stimulus it could be much worse, and instead of education being cut by 13 percent it could have been cut in the neighborhood of 20 percent without the funds. “The State avoided a $1 billion cut from the budget with the federal stimulus,” he said.
Essig reminded that as of June 30, 2011, the stimulus will be gone. In a grim hypothesis Essig proposed that the State could lay off 13,000 state employees and that would still only bring $700 million back into the budget.
Essig commended Gov. Sonny Perdue’s efforts and tough decision making during the prolonged recession. “Gov. Perdue is very responsible fiscally,” Essig said, pointing to the governor’s order to state agencies to cut their budgets by four, six and even eight percent to give the newly elected governor options to deal with expected shortfalls next year. He said that the 2012 budget is estimated to be between $1.8 billion and $2 billion even with moderate revenue growth. In addition, the one-time stimulus funds will no longer be available to the State.
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