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Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: The case of $18 million

When you pay sales taxes at the store, that money is eventually sent to the state.

The state adds it all up, keeps its share and sends a portion back to cities, counties and school boards, minus a little extra the state keeps for its trouble. How much it sends back depends on what local option sales taxes and special purpose local option sales taxes voters have put in place.

You probably know those as LOSTs and SPLOSTs or maybe even ELOSTs, when education projects are being funded.

But there’s usually some money that no one really knows where to send. For “a thousand different reasons,” it’s not clear exactly what jurisdiction it belongs to, said Bert Brantley, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s communications director.

For years, this money was divided among local governments via a formula decided on by the General Assembly. But the law that puts that formula in place quietly ended at the end of 2007. It wasn’t put back into place until earlier this year, when legislators passed a new law extending the formula through the end of 2011.

Now, here’s the question: What do you do with the $18 million or so collected in 2008 that doesn’t have a home?

If you’re the state, struggling through one of the worst economic slumps in memory, you keep the money and say the formula didn’t apply in 2008. After all, the new law wasn’t in effect until 2009.

If you’re a city, county or school board, struggling through one of the worst economic slumps in memory, you say the state should send the money back home. After all, local voters approved these taxes for specific local uses — not to line state coffers. And the law doesn’t say anything about skipping 2008.

Who will win this argument? Who knows. A local government could sue the state and let the courts decide. Lobbying groups, such as the Georgia Municipal Association, are putting pressure on the state to send the money along.

But with possession being nine-tenths of the law, as they say, and the state obviously being in possession, it may be tough to shake the money loose.

SCOTT TO WALK THROUGH GEORGIA; HANDEL VISITS MACON

Despite the fact that there are at least a dozen people running for governor in 2010, the drawn-out campaign season is basically in stealth mode for all but the most hard-core politicos.

But they are up and running, some more than others.

State Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, announced his plans this week to walk across Georgia. He said he’ll start in Chickamauga and log some 1,000 miles on foot, meeting, greeting and listening to Georgia voters along the way.

And Secretary of State Karen Handel, another Republican candidate, was in Macon this week for a fundraiser. There’s a key fundraising deadline at the end of this month, and most of the candidates will want to show viability by proving they can raise money.

Handel said she had 30 to 40 people Wednesday evening at the upscale Marco Ristorante Italiano for a private event.

That included, according to attendees, state Sen. Cecil Staton and state Rep. Allen Peake, as well as Ben Hinson, the president of Mid Georgia Ambulance Service and one of Macon’s more prominent GOP organizers and donors.

STATON STARTING WARNER ROBINS PAPER

One of state Sen. Cecil Staton’s media companies is starting a newspaper in Warner Robins.

The Patriot will be published daily online starting in August. Print versions will be delivered free of charge twice a week, according to the effort’s Web site, www.wnngthepatriot.com.

WNNG is a radio station in the area already run by Georgia Eagle Broadcasting Inc., of which Staton, R-Macon, is president.

The paper will be “truly a community newspaper” focused on local government, Robins Air Force Base, local sports and civic events, Staton said. Longtime local newspaperman David Cranshaw, a Telegraph staffer for several years, will be the paper’s editor, he said.

The online version is scheduled to launch Aug. 3. Some 25,000 copies of the print version will be delivered to targeted ZIP codes on Wednesdays and Saturdays starting Aug. 26, Staton said.

REICHERT NAMED TO GMA BOARD

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert has been elected to the Georgia Municipal Association’s board of directors, the GMA announced this week.

The GMA is basically a lobbying and support group for Georgia cities, and the board sets policy and approves a budget for the association. Reichert will be one of 56 board members, who meet four times a year, according to the GMA.

Other Middle Georgia folks on the board include Centerville Mayor Bubba Edwards, Macon City Councilman Rick Hutto, Eatonton Mayor John Reid and Roberta Mayor Becky Smith.

During the GMA’s conference last weekend, Hutto was sworn in as president of GMA’s 6th District, which includes much of Middle Georgia.

Staff writer Travis Fain compiled this report.