This Just In...

New State Budget Task Force

Georgia’s 2010 version of the General Assembly was barely one hour old Monday when Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and other Senate leaders announced a new budget task force that will be charged with generating short-term and long-term recommendations to cover a multi-billion dollar hole in the current year and 2011 budgets.  Seven private sector and foundation executives were named to the task force.

“The reason we’re moving forward with this initiative is to not have to raise any taxes,” Cagle told reporters in a North Rotunda news conference.  He added, “We’re not like Washington.  We don’t have the luxury of printing money.”

And money is something the state budget desperately needs.  The two-year long recession caused state revenues to plummet creating a $1.5 bilion shortfall in the current fiscal year budget that ends June 30, plus an additional $2 billion in the next fiscal year.  Those numbers are on top of $3 billion already trimmed from state budgets during the past two years.

Cagle challenged the task force to create “foundational changes as to how government has been operating.”  He praised the New Georgia initiative created by Governor Sonny Perdue for its emphasis on best practices, citing Medicaid program improvements and privatization of the state vehicle fleet, but he said consolidation of more state services seems inevitable in this current financial climate.

Senate Appropriations chairman Jack Hill made brief remarks as did task force members Kelly McCutchen, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and Edward Heys, Atlanta deputy managing partner of Deloitte & Touche.  Other task force members include Max Blocker, partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers; Monye Connolly, president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia; Greg Duncan, president of North American Operations for UCB, Inc.; Ronnie Labrato, executive vice president, CFO and treasurer for Georgia Power and Suzane Sitherwood, president of Atlanta Gas Light.  The committee has been in meetings prior to this morning’s Cagle news conference.

Written by Mike Klein

APC Board Member