There was an interesting editorial this morning in the
Macon Telegraph that mentioned the differences for the Unlock funding for people with disabilities. It starts with a good overview of some of the highlights of the Budget.
The House on March 8 and the Senate on March 23 approved versions of fiscal 2007 spending slightly upward of $18.6 billion; the differences will be ironed out in a conference committee. State revenues are on an upswing after several lean years forced painful cuts or freezes on almost everyone. The 2006 budget runs out June 30; a couple of weeks ago the Legislature amended it upwards by some $444 million. Now, the plan for fiscal 2007, starting July 1, is to spend some $800 million above that. While Gov. Sonny Perdue's budget plan recommended a 2 to 4 percent raise for state troopers, GBI agents, prison guards, probation officers and others, both House and Senate decided to boost their pay by up to 7 percent. Teachers' pay will go up his recommended 4 percent and other state employees by amounts ranging from 2 to 4 percent.
The paper went on to make a prediction...
The Senate should prevail in one major difference: The state has a waiting list of 6,000 for care for the mentally and developmentally disabled. The House budget would fund only 1,500 additional slots; the Senate version would come closer to meeting the shortfall with money for 3,000 slots.
This is news to us...we wrote a
post awhile back covering the possibility of this additional funding. But right now we are all guessing - so they could be as right as any other prediction.
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