Meanwhile, his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Carl Von Epps of La-Grange, said he hopes the Republican majority doesn’t go wild with education and social service cuts to resolve the state’s estimated $2.5 billion revenue shortfall.
Smith, chairman of the Transportation Committee, said his bill will address movement of freight, mobility of people, airports and mass transit, and “will have something for every county in the state of Georgia.” He said prospects are good for further road and intersection upgrades along U.S. 29 south of LaGrange because of the Kia Motors plant in West Point and the proposed Talisa Township, a massive residential and commercial subdivision that would be built out over 20 years.
The Department of Transportation, which just finished the Kia interchange on Interstate 85, along with Kia Boulevard and Kia Parkway, has a formula for deciding which projects get the go-ahead.
Smith, who has been in the legislature for 16 years and transportation chairman for five years, said he’s trying to be positive about the budget deficit.
“It’s a great time to look at each department and make sure the contracts and projects will produce results for the citizens, and if they do not, we need to do away with them,” he said. “Just because we have a budget deficit doesn’t mean we need a tax increase.”
Smith said he expects the legislature to have its own economic stimulus package to create jobs with the least amount of money.
“We need to keep enticing businesses to come to Georgia and create jobs,” he said. “We’ve got to find out how to do the stimulus.”
Smith said he doesn’t know if the legislature will restore $300 million for homeowner tax relief. Gov. Sonny Perdue froze the money last year because of the budget deficit.
“If we’re capable of doing it, I’m in favor of restoring it,” Smith said.
Troup County Tax Commissioner Gary Wood al-ready has given homeowners the $8,000 exemption. Unless the funds are re-stored – $2 million for the county school system and $1 million for the county government – most homeowners will get an extra bill for $237.28, assuming the schools and county don’t decide to forgo the income.
“It would be very chaotic,” said Wood, who hopes the issue will be at the top of the legislative agenda. “People have already paid their taxes and then they’ve got to pay another bill.”
Meanwhile, Epps noted that Republicans set the agenda since they have the majority in both chambers and “I can’t vote for anything other than what they put on the agenda.”
“The budget is the most critical thing, this year and every year,” said Epps, who has served in the House since 1993.
Epps said he hopes the Republicans, even with their ideology of smaller government, “won’t be punitive to the people who need help.” He said the budget should not reduce health services, particularly mental health, at a time when the state’s seven mental health hospitals are under scrutiny by the U.S. Justice Department because of understaffing.
He said there’s talk of privatizing mental health, but he said a private company would reduce or eliminate services to make money.
The state needs a permanent source of funding for a trauma care network that would save more lives after accidents, he said. A bill that would have increased vehicle registration fees for that purpose died on the last day of the 2008 session.
Epps said he’s concerned about further cuts to local school systems because it would cause an increase in property taxes. Some school systems can’t legally go beyond their current millage rates, he said, but “I expect the cuts to continue.”
Epps said lawmakers should restore the homeowners tax relief grant because “I’m concerned we will end up paying more if the governor gets his wishes. He wants to eliminate it.”
n Resident may call Smith at (404) 656-7153 or Epps at (404) 656-7859.
Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.
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