MILLEDGEVILLE AND BALDWIN COUNTY: New lawmaker hopes area has already seen the worst

State budget cuts have hit Milledgeville and the surrounding area as hard as anywhere.

Cuts to the state’s mental health system affect Central State Hospital. Furloughs at universities and colleges hit Georgia College & State University.

The state closed a prison last year in Hardwick that had employed 300 people. The Bill E. Ireland Youth Development Center in Milledgville, which employed another 300 people, is on the verge of closing.

So what’s in store for Milledgeville when the 2010 state Legislature opens and Georgia leaders go looking for more budget cuts?

“I hope we have paid over our price and that something good can happen down here,” said new state Rep. Rusty Kidd, who was elected this fall to finish out retired legislator Bobby Parham’s term. Kidd said he’s met several times with Gov. Sonny Perdue.

He said the governor made no promises but talked about “positive things” for Baldwin County. Time will tell what that means, Kidd said.

Historically, state jobs have accounted for about one-third of employment in Milledgeville and Baldwin County, a higher per capita rate of any other area in Georgia, area state Sen. Johnny Grant, R-Milledgeville, has said.

Kidd, an independent and a longtime lobbyist familiar with the state Capitol, said he’ll push for more mental health funding from the state.

A federal review of the state’s system is ongoing and has found serious problems not just at Central State but at facilities across the state. But even if the federal government doesn’t force Georgia to spend more on treatment for the mentally ill and physically disabled, the state should do so, Kidd said.

Otherwise, it’s just shifting costs to local jails, where mentally ill people end up after committing crimes that probably could have been prevented with proper medication.

“Every county jail (in Georgia) has inmates in there that have significant medical problems,” Kidd said. “They need to transfer those patients over to Milledgeville and other mental facilities.

“At some point, the state needs to step up and take responsibility for the treatment in Georgia of people who cannot take care of themselves,” Kidd said.

— Travis Fain