ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia’s budget director told lawmakers on Friday that Gov. Brian Kemp is trying to avoid state employee layoffs even as he orders budget cuts.
Office of Planning and Budget Director Kelly Farr, speaking Friday before a joint meeting of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, told lawmakers that state officials don’t entirely understand why revenue collections are lagging.
The Republican governor has ordered agencies to cut 4% from their budgets this year and proposed 6% cuts from the 2021 budget that lawmakers will write beginning in January. Many areas of the $27.5 billion budget are exempt from cuts, however, including most education services and the state-federal Medicaid program. This year’s cuts, which begin next week, amount to about $200 million. Next year’s cuts would be about $300 million.
House Appropriations Committee Member Al Williams, a Democrat from Midway, told Farr that many state employees are worried they’re going to lose their jobs.
“There’s a lot of panic right now among the rank and file workers,” Williams said.