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Special legislature has big fiscal
questions to solve
By
Alan Essig
Executive Director, Georgia
Budget and Policy Institute
Special to GwinnettForum.com
ATLANTA, Ga., May 8, 2007 -- For those who enjoy politics, Georgia's
legislative session in recent weeks has provided some of the best
entertainment around----a last minute $142 million tax cut, a veto
of the supplemental budget by the Governor, some eloquent oratory
in the House of Representatives leading to an override of the veto,
and lots of good old fashioned name-calling. For those who are concerned
about sound fiscal policy, however, the events have been alarming.
Putting politics and personalities aside, the actions of both the
Legislature and the Governor over the past several months raise
serious fiscal policy questions: Will there be any surplus money
to increase the reserves and fund next year's education enrollment
growth? Does the state have a fiscal plan? While several policy
missteps led to the current turmoil and concerns, one significant
policy solution by the Governor can bring us back to the fiscally
responsible path.
The first misstep occurred when the Governor raised the revenue
estimate for the current fiscal year. The original FY 2007 budget
was based on 1.8 percent growth in general revenues over the FY
2006 actual revenue collections. In January, the Governor increased
the projected FY 2007 revenue growth to 5.1 percent. Revenues have
only increased by 4.7 percent in the first nine months of the fiscal
year.
While this optimistic revenue estimate could put a strain on meeting
the budget this year, it is more problematic in policy terms because
of its effects on the broader fiscal plan of the state. The Governor's
revenue estimate must account for a planned surplus to fund school
enrollment growth in next year's FY 2008 budget. That is, the Governor
needs to be conservative in how high he sets the revenue estimate
so that there are "extra" revenues left over to spend
on next year's enrollment growth. The reality is that revenues actually
need to grow closer to 6.1 percent in order to fully fund the FY
2007 budget and generate a surplus to fund next year's school enrollment
growth ($180 million).
In addition, a revenue estimate should account for increasing the
Revenue Shortfall Reserve (RSR), which is the state savings account.
The RSR needs an additional $1 billion to be fully funded. The Governor
should be setting a goal of increasing the RSR by a minimum of $200
million a year to prepare us for the next recession. To reach such
a goal the Governor would need to set a revenue estimate that plans
for a surplus of $380 million ($180 million for the education mid-term
adjustment and $200 million for reserves). The Governor's current
revenue estimate does not account for such a planned surplus.
The Governor wasn't alone in swerving from the path of good policy,
though. Faced with an impasse on what to fund in the supplemental
budget, the Legislature spent $142 million on a one-time property
tax cut. Again, the "extra" money was not focused on a
sound fiscal plan of increasing the reserves and funding enrollment
growth. The Legislature irresponsibly funded a tax cut for political
reasons, while knowingly under-funding next year's education mid-term
adjustment and not planning to increase the Revenue Shortfall Reserve.
While the policy missteps were glaring, the Governor's veto of the
supplemental budget gives the Governor and General Assembly the
opportunity to fix a fiscally unsound budget. The Governor should
establish a state fiscal plan that fully funds the education mid-term
adjustment and increases the RSR through planning for a surplus.
The Governor should lower the FY 2007 revenue estimate, which would
eliminate the revenues available for the tax cut and channel any
surplus funds to reserves and education growth. The General Assembly
would then be in a position to pass an FY 2007 Amended Budget that
is both responsible and fiscally conservative. There is still time
to place sound policy over political pandering.
Tidbit box offers thoughts from here, there
and around
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com
MAY 8, 2007 -- Opening my Tidbit Box, there're several items that
need mentioning.
Brack |
* * * * *
You think prices are high these days? You would be right
if you lived in Boston, and wanted to see a Red Sox game. A ticket
would cost you $46, the most of any major league park in the country.
The cheapest ticket for a major league baseball game: Kansas City,
at $14. But Atlanta's not far behind at $17.
If a Red Sox ticket cost $46, wonder what a hot dog would cost?
(Here's a clue: at New York's Shea Stadium, they are $4.75.)
* * * * *
A new major medical park will locate in Hall County. Northeast
Georgia Health System will have a 100-bed, general-service hospital
on the outskirts of Braselton. It is be situated on a 119 acre tract
just outside Gwinnett, but inside of Hall County, on Georgia Highway
211.
One article states a quote, from South Hall Commissioner Bobby Banks
(saying) "It would be the biggest industrial park ever to locate
in the county, possibly the biggest in the State of Georgia."
Looks like Hall is beginning to get a "taste
of Gwinnett."
* * * * *
A new judge begins in the Southern District of Georgia:
Lisa Godbey Wood began as the first female judge in the 43-county
district, says the Savannah Morning News. We congratulate her arrival
on the bench. This comes on the heels of the first African-American
coach to win the Super Bowl.
First this, first that. The two items are examples of wording that
is getting to be old hat.
But now that I think about, it; first Brack to live in Norcross.
* * * * *
Bugs me: shaved heads on police officers. And whatever happened
to law enforcement officers wearing their hats or caps?
* * * * *
Rudeness prevails in America.
You especially see it in the use of cell phones in public. It shows
that the average American has no manners. Or else that person would
not talk loud and long on the cell phone, virtually in everyone's
face, polluting the air with his/her pronouncements.
Cell phone use is as high if not higher in Japan, we hear, yet
people don't yell and scream into the phone. There, they are more
likely to send text messages when in public, rather than talk loudly.
It's a case of civility.
Recently someone proposed allowing people to cell phone talk on
airplanes. At least this was squashed time it came up. How horrible
would it be to have a non-stop, and always loud, cell phoner seated
next to you?
* * * * *
Commenting on Warren Buffett's $31 billion gift to the Gates
Foundation, Hoover Institution senior fellow Diane Ravitch notes:
"With the ability to hand out more than $1 billion, Gates Foundation
looms larger in the eyes of school leaders than even the U.S. Department
of Education. It, by comparison, has only about $20 million in truly
discretionary funds. The department may have sticks, but the foundation
has almost all the carrots. ... Bill Gates is now the nation's superintendent
of schools," says a story in the Los Angeles Times.
* * * * *
Personal speechwriter Janet Segal of Charleston: "Fear
will always trump reason and intellect."
 The
public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com
to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is The Peachtree
Bank, located at 9570 Medlock Bridge Road, Duluth. The bank
also has locations at 185 Gwinnett Drive, Lawrenceville; in Roswell
at 695 Mansell Road; and at 1725 Mount Vernon Rd. in Dunwoody. Monty
Watson is president of the bank, which has assets of over $625 million.
Member, FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. Go to The Peachtree Bank
web site at : http://www.thepeachtreebank.com.
Defends
action of acquiring Beaver Ruin area passive park
Editor, the Forum:
I would like to make a comment on the recent purchase of the 56
acre property bounded by Beaver Ruin Road and Satellite Blvd. This
property is now slated to be developed into a passive park. In past
letters to the editor there have been a slew of negative comments
of this supposed boondoggle of this purchase and that it is totally
unusable swampland.
The reality is this is far from the truth. I have lived in the
adjacent Hickory Ridge subdivision since the mid 80s. I have also
personally walked on this property on many occasions. It is truly
a diamond in the rough. It has streams, rock outcroppings a small
marsh area and is teeming with an abundance of wildlife. The people
who condemned this purchase, I am sure, have never set foot on this
property. The citizens of Gwinnett should be elated that this property
will be saved for generations to come.
This area of Gwinnett has been in the past almost completely neglected
by the county. But today things are quite different and actually
looking up for the area. This park project is located between the
Gwinnett Village CID and the Gwinnett Place CID's revitalization
efforts. This park will only help in the entire area turn around.
A lot of praise needs to go to commissioner Lorraine Green. She
has been a driving force thru her efforts of code enforcement and
other major projects to stabilize this once declining part of the
county. Over the last few years she has always responded promptly
to letters, phone calls and various complaints from myself and my
neighbors. I cannot say the same for the other commissioners present
and past who have been for the most part totally unresponsive.
I have met Ms. Green and she has been the only commissioner who
I feel shows genuine concern for the citizens of Gwinnett relating
to quality of life issues. She should be praised for all of her
hard work. I truly feel her heart is in the right place. I can only
wish that in the future she becomes county commission chairman.
Plus that she is surrounded by people who truly have the concerns
of the people of Gwinnett at heart.
-- Edward Bienkowski, Duluth
Last
philharmonic concert features Big Band jazz group
Last Philharmonic Concert Features Big Band Jazz Group
The Gwinnett Philharmonic Association's final concert of the 2006/2007
season, "Big Band Jazz," will be Tuesday, May 15, at 8
p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at the Gwinnett Center.
For the Big Band Jazz concert, the jazz musicians of the Gwinnett
Philharmonic will perform alongside exciting guest artist Joe Gransden,
a jazz trumpet & vocalist who is currently making his mark in
jazz circles around the nation. The concert will feature big band
jazz in the tradition of Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, and is expected
to sell out early.
This features the launch of the Philharmonic Big Band, a new group
formed of professional Gwinnett Philharmonic musicians, which consists
of five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, a pianist, a
bass and a percussionist.
The Big Band group is a Philharmonic venture towards greater outreach,
its small size and relatively low overhead making it possible to
present performances beyond the current performance hall.
Tennis tournament
in may to help fund children's healthcare
Raise spirits - and funds - by playing in and donating silent auction
items for the 18th Annual FRIENDS Charity Doubles Tennis Tournament,
benefiting Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Tournament chairman
Nancy Orrico reports that 70 percent of the slots for the doubles
tournament are already taken. She expects the remaining teams to
be registered by the end of the month.
Scheduled for Thursday, May 10 through Sunday, May 13 at the Steeplechase
Tennis Facility in Lawrenceville and other venues in North Gwinnett,
proceeds benefit Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Registration
form and fee of $40 per player can be completed and submitted online
at www.friendstournament.org.
Tournament participants are guaranteed at least two matches, and
will receive a commemorative 2007 Tournament T-shirt, a 'goody bag'
loaded with valuable merchandise and a complimentary invitation
to the Tournament Party, which features dinner, drinks, music and
door prizes. Winners in the championship bracket will receive valuable
gift cards to the PGA Tour Superstore, while all finalists will
receive limited edition 2007 Tournament Bag Tags.
New Dawn Theater presents
"A Few Good Men" coming soon
The New Dawn Theater Company at Red Clay Theatre in Duluth will
present A Few Good Men, by Aaron Sorkin, in May and June.
Show dates are May 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, and June 1, 2, 3, 7, 8,
9 and 10. The times on nights are 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday
matinees are at 2 p.m. with performances at Duluth's Second Stage
(Main Street Duluth). The show is directed by Sherry Ingbritsen.
Tickets may be purchased online at www.ticketalternative.com.
Check the website at www.newdawntheatercompany.com
or call 678-938-3615 for additional information.
High energy musical
gospel coming to Duluth theatre
Smoke on the Mountain is a high energy musical based on Southern
gospel presented by a professionally entertaining, humorous and
talented cast. It was conceived by Alan Bailey and written by Connie
Ray.
The show is currently being presented at the Red Clay Theatre in
Duluth with performances on Thursday-Sunday thru June 3. For more
information, go to www.RedClayTheatreArts.com
or call 770-622-1277 for tickets. Red Clay Theatre is located on
Main Street in Duluth.
Technology Forum May
15 to hear Horizon's Bob Williamson
A presentation on a "Technology Entrepreneur's Success Story,"
featuring the 2006 Gwinnett Small Business Person of the Year, Horizon
Software International's President and CEO Bob Williamson, will
highlight the May 15 Gwinnett Technology Forum.
The meeting is May 15 at 7:30 am in the Scientific Atlanta Auditorium
of the Busbee Center at Gwinnett Tech.
Established in 1992, Horizon Software International, Inc. is a
privately held technology company located in Loganville. Recognized
as a global leader in food service management technology, Horizon's
primary focus is supply chain management technology. There is no
charge for admission. To RSVP, email Jo Anne Wymer no later than
May 11 at Joanne@gwinnettchamber.org.
Gwinnett
water customers may face water surcharge soon
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has issued Level
Two Drought water restrictions. Gwinnett County is following this
lead. Watering is permitted three days a week and only between midnight
and 10 a.m. Odd-numbered addresses may water on Tuesday, Thursday
and Sunday. Even-numbered addresses may water on Monday, Wednesday
and Saturday. Watering is not allowed at all on Friday.
Stephens
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Gwinnett residents also have a three-tier rate structure, according
to Water Resources Director Frank Stephens. In June through October
this year, all retail and wholesale accounts that use more than
10,000 gallons and between 125 and 200 percent of their monthly
average usage during the previous January through March will pay
a surcharge of 87 cents per thousand gallons over the 125 percent
threshold. For customers who exceed 10,000 gallons and 200 percent,
the surcharge is $3.47 per thousand gallons.
Stephens says: "The most expensive part of our water supply
system is the capacity built to meet the peak demands of discretionary
outdoor water use during the summer," Stephens said. "So
it makes good business sense for customers with high peak demands
to pay a demand charge." The three-tiered rate structure assigns
costs to customers according to their usage pattern. The surcharge
for high demand helps keep water rates lower for folks with conservative
habits.
- An invitation: What
Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your
best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have
read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus
what book you plan to read next. --eeb
Dorothy
Rogers Tilly unherald trailblazer for civil rights
Tilly |
One of the unheralded trailblazers of the civil rights movement,
Dorothy
Rogers Tilly devoted her entire adult life to reforming southern
race relations. Her extensive career as an activist, organizer,
and mentor forged a link between the reform efforts of the early
twentieth century and the modern civil rights movement.
Dorothy Eugenia Rogers was born in Hampton, Ga. on 1883. She was
reared within the privilege afforded whites by the segregated South.
She attended two colleges, graduating from Reinhardt College, in
north Georgia, in 1899 and from Wesleyan College, in Macon, in 1901.
She married Milton Eben Tilly in 1903, and the couple settled in
Atlanta and had one child.
At her husband's suggestion, Tilly began volunteering with the
Women's Missionary Society (WMS) of the Methodist Church as a children's
religion instructor. From 1918 to 1931 she ran the WMS Children's
Work for North Georgia program.
Tilly's work with the WMS led to opportunities with other progressive
organizations, and in 1930 she joined the biracial Commission on
Interracial Cooperation (CIC). Through membership in the CIC, she
met Jessie Daniel Ames and became an ardent antilynching activist
with the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching.
As the association's state representative, Tilly traveled throughout
Georgia's countryside, visiting towns where lynchings or racial
violence against African Americans had occurred or was imminent.
In 1949 she once again called upon southern churchwomen to assist
her in this mission, mobilizing them into a biracial group called
the Fellowship of the Concerned (FOC). Initially FOC members exposed
discriminatory practices in southern courtrooms and during voting
registration. In 1953, on the eve of the Supreme Court's landmark
decision on school desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education
(1954), Tilly reconfigured the FOC into an instrument designed to
prepare and educate white southerners for segregation's imminent
demise. Through example and education, committee members promoted
racial tolerance and acceptance of desegregation during the explosive
years of the civil rights movement.
After devoting 60 years to racial equality and human rights, Tilly
died in Atlanta on March 16, 1970, at the age of 86.
Wartimes have a way
of causing people to think very oddly
"[A pilot] would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if
he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them
he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was
sane and had to."
-- Author Joseph Heller (1923-1999), in Catch 22.
Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves
or comments on any issue to Gwinnett
Forum for future publication.
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© 2007, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum
is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett
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