Local lawmakers say the budget will dominate the upcoming session of the Georgia Legislature when it convenes in early January, and in order to compensate for continually decreasing revenue figures, major cuts will be required.

While other state governments across the country are opting to account for revenue declines by increasing taxes, the Georgia General Assembly has thus far been able to balance the state budget by reducing spending, and Rep. Mark Butler, R-Carrollton, said this policy will continue through the 2010 session.

“With the economy the way it is and revenues continuing to fall we’re going to have to continue to look to ways to tighten the state’s belt. I know I don’t have taste for a tax increase, and I know much of the General Assembly doesn’t either,” Butler said. “We’ve decided we’re going to go at it by making cuts, and we’re still going to look to make the state government smaller.”

The Legislature in the spring passed an $18.6 billion budget. As part of that, more than $1 billion in services were eliminated, reducing the budget to a level lower than what it was in 2007, a byproduct then of statewide revenue shortages. The Legislature, at that time, used $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money to prevent further cuts, and because of that, was able to avoid increasing health care premiums for 225,000 teachers and state employees as had been discussed.

This year will likely see the budget shrink below the $18 billion mark, Butler said, and the Legislature will try to preserve funding for education, ranging from K-12 primary schools through the university system, though it’s going to be impossible to leave the funding for education entirely intact.

“I know we’re going to try to do our best to minimize cuts to education, but with K-12 and tech schools and the university system, you’re talking about way over half the budget,” Butler said. “If you’re looking at all the money going toward education and all the money going toward health care, you’re looking at 75 or 85 percent of the entire budget, so when you have to cut 15 percent you can’t avoid cutting from those categories, because you certainly can’t completely cut everything else.”

Butler said the state was fortunate in the fact that prior to the national economic recession, the Legislature was able to put money away into a “rainy day” fund, growing that fund to approximately $2 billion. Because of that, Butler said, the state is a better position than other states in the nation. Georgia recently was able to retain its AAA bond rating, which allows the state to borrow for capital projects.

Even with the good news relating to the bond rating, Butler said, the upcoming session will be a messy one, with budget cuts to dominate much of the conversation.

For that reason, the session will likely prove contentious, said Rep. Randy Nix, R-LaGrange, a situation that will only be amplified by the fact that 2010 is an election year.

“There will be a lot of hand wringing, political posturing and pandering to various groups over budget issues. We must prioritize spending and understand that everyone will have to do their part to meet these unusual challenges,” Nix said. “Since this is an election year, I anticipate a lot of political posturing which may not necessarily encourage the unity we need to adequately address the problems we face.”

To help meet the growing economic challenges, the state needs to focus on one thing in particular, said Rep. Tim Bearden, R-Villa Rica, and considering the growing unemployment rate, it may be easier said than done.

“The thing that will pull us out of this is jobs and jobs and jobs. We need to find a way to make sure that businesses can protect the jobs they have and create more jobs and find ways to put more money into people’s pockets,” Bearden said. “The budget is a big thing, and if we’re going to help the state economy, we need to make sure people can get back to work.”

Bearden said it will be especially important during this session to focus on how the cuts are made, because it has reached the point in the last 12 months that the state can’t absorb any more across-the-board cuts. They’re going to need to be tailored to certain departments and programs, Bearden said, and they’re still going to be difficult.

“It’s going to be a challenge. There’s going to be a lot of people who disagree on how cuts are being made,” Bearden said. “It’s going to be more of a beast this year because of declining revenues, and we’re going to have to deal with it.”

In addition to creating jobs, the Legislature has a responsibility to help reduce the tax burden on Georgia residents as well, Bearden said.

Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, who represents a portion of Carroll County, has already prefiled a bill that remove the requirement of an additional annual registration fee for prestige license plates, a move he says will help lessen what residents have to pay in vehicle taxes.

“During tough economic times, Georgians do not need to pay more taxes and unnecessary fees. Nobody should have to pay for the production of the tag more than once,” Seabaugh said in a written statement. “Georgians are already taxed yearly on their cars.  There is no rationale to keep paying the special fee for a plate that has already been produced.”