How to fix an ailing budget in a sick economy will top the agenda when the Georgia Legislature convenes on Jan. 12 in Atlanta.

Over the last several months, local legislators have spent countless hours working to cut what now appears to be a severely bloated 2009 budget. By some estimates, the projected amount of fat that will require trimming is upwards of $2 billion, translating to approximately 10 percent of the entire budget.

As is the case most years, final d©nouement of all budgetary matters will most likely be pushed until the waning hours of the session, into late March or even early April, because it requires ultimate agreement between the governor, the House and the Senate.

The process may be expedited this year as a result of the legislators efforts well before the beginning of the session.

The primary purpose of these early meetings was to define the fundamental purpose of government and then to flag those departmental programs that fail to meet that purpose, a task in itself that is only likely to be successful when government has its back against the wall, said Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg.

“We should always be doing what we can to ensure we have the most efficiently run government at the lowest cost, and sometimes economic downturns provide the proper motivation for everyone to look at what makes sense to get our budget streamlined,” Seabaugh said. “When there’s a lot of money, people don’t focus on that because they want money for what they consider to be essential services but when you don’t have money, you begin to question and look harder at what government really is responsible for.”

In short, the meaning of “essential” gets redefined.

Because the legislative body as a whole has not yet met in session, no decisions have been made as to where the cuts will come from. A possibility may be that nearly everything across the board takes an 8 or 10 percent hit, said Rep. Tim Bearden, R-Villa Rica. As the foundation of most budgetary cuts, he said, larger programs that require the most money are the first to be placed on the chopping block.

For the state, that includes education, the Department of Transportation and Medicaid.

Bearden said he is hopeful neither elementary education nor public health care will be touched as both represent essential services to the public.

As the co-sponsor of two bills touted to bring relief to small businesses by eliminating the corporate income tax as well as the tax on in-stock inventory, Bearden said he is also confident the state economy will bounce back with a bit of nudge in the right direction.

“Our budget had increased in the past. It was good but over the past couple years it has shown a downturn,” he said. “These things do come in cycles, though. We’re a great country and as long as we don’t fall into socialism and are able to return to free market, we can make major improvements.”

Yet in the meantime, cuts will need to be made.

Sen. Bill Hamrick, R-Carrollton, said as it stands, the Legislature is operating under three different scenarios, each requiring progressively greater slices to be taken off the final budget. One will require 6 percent cuts, the other 8 percent, and the other 10 percent.

Depending on projected revenue figures in January, the governor will present legislators with a budget that operates under one of those three possibilities, at which point, they’ll take the reins, kicking it amongst themselves until an agreement is met.

Hamrick said recent meetings with department heads have suggested that there is some pork that can be cut but the possibility of a 10-percent decrease in the budget presents a set of challenges that are not as easily met.

“It’s interesting when you ask the agencies to present cuts instead of asking for more money because that’s what they’re used to doing,” Hamrick said. “You then begin to realize there are easy areas where they can cut but they didn’t have to in the past and didn’t feel the need,” he said. “But when you get to 10 percent, you get to a tougher situation where you have to look hard. So, we’ll have to wait and see.”