Faced with up to $228 million in expected budget cuts, Georgia's colleges are looking at laying off employees, increasing student fees and revoking guaranteed tuition rates.

The state Board of Regents voted Wednesday to send its budget blueprint to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who will make final recommendations to state lawmakers on how to cope with an expected $1.6 billion statewide shortfall this fiscal year.

We are trying to do this without compromising the quality of education we owe to our students," Chancellor Erroll B. Davis told the regents.

Georgia budget crisis may force cuts

Georgia's budget crisis has cast doubt on the state's ability to provide millions of dollars to expand the network of hospitals that handle trauma care for car crashes, stabbings and shootings, top state officials said.

"It's going to be tough," said Gov. Sonny Perdue's spokesman, Bert Brantley. "We're in a cutting mode."

Georgia's slumping economy already has local governments cutting staff, reducing programs and raising taxes.

Just the suggestion that Gov. Sonny Perdue would yank $428 million in state tax relief grants has local officials howling in protest.

"I don't think any local government can just suck it up," said East Point Mayor Joe Macon, whose city got $356,478 under the program last year.

East Point has laid off more than 80 workers, closed two fire stations and cut spending by $5 million this year.

Gov. Sonny Perdue's statement that he'd like to see the homeowner tax grant program scrapped has local officials in a panic and some state lawmakers calling for a special legislative session. storyPhotos();

Richmond County legislative delegation Chairman Quincy Murphy said what Mr. Perdue is proposing is a tax increase, and it will be permanent unless people speak out against it.

ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta) - The Georgia senate race looks competitive as the general election nears.  A new Rasmussen Reports poll of Georgia voters shows Democratic challenger Jim Martin trailing incumbent Saxby Chambliss by just six percentage points.

ATLANTA - The state Board of Regents is expected to unveil plans today to slice college spending by as much as 10 percent as the University System of Georgia comes to grips with its share of the state's deepening budget shortfall.

The Board of Regents technically is likely to only give approval to a 6 percent cut - the smallest budget hit requested by Gov. Sonny Perdue. But board members also will be briefed on proposals to cut 8 percent and 10 percent from the system's spending under instructions Perdue's office has given to all agencies.

Betsy Gilliland| Staff Writer Wednesday, August 20, 2008 

School systems statewide are already facing a 2 percent decrease in state funding this year, but times could get even tougher in 2009-10. 

"Next year if the economy does not improve, we could see as much as a 3 percent reduction," said Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the state Department of Education.

If the state doesn't fund the homestead exemption this year, local governments would lose millions in funding.

Bibb County Tax Commissioner Tommy Tedders said Bibb County would lose about $3 million, the Bibb school board would lose $4.2 million and the city of Macon would lose almost $1.3 million.

In Bibb County, the tax break saves the average unincorporated homeowner $266 a year. The average city homeowner saves $327, Tedders said. The figures would vary in other counties, depending on the millage rate and a home's value.

The state's $428 million homeowner tax relief grant program has done little more than supplement the growing spending habits of local government, Gov. Sonny Perdue said Tuesday.

Perdue, who has already frozen the grant payments to counties because of the state's budget crisis, said the program has proven ineffective in holding down property taxes in Georgia

"The growth of local government has been overwhelming," Perdue said. "While the [grant program] had great motives initially - to reduce the local tax burden - it has not worked out that way."

ATHENS, GA – Bobby Saxon, Democratic nominee for the Georgia 10th Congressional District, calls on Congressman Paul Broun, Jr. to refund taxpayer money he wastefully spent on self promoting mailers.