Stimulus cash arrives — will Georgia spend it?

The first chunk of federal stimulus money has arrived in Georgia, but questions remain about how much more Gov. Sonny Perdue will accept.

Perdue confirmed Wednesday that $339 million in federal money landed in the state’s account, about two-thirds of the money the state should receive for its Medicaid program between now and Oct. 1.

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While Perdue welcomed that deposit, he remains uncommitted to whether the state will accept all of the $6 billion it could qualify for under the plan signed into law by President Barack Obama earlier this month.

Still, he made clear that if he does not take every last dollar, it will not be out of protest. He also offered some of his most positive remarks to date about what could be available for the state.

“We’re going to take every dollar we can that means long-term benefits for Georgians,” Perdue said after outlining to state agency leaders his administration’s plans for identifying, applying for and using the federal money. “I’m not, not taking money on principle. Georgians have paid their taxes. When the Congress passes a law like this, I want Georgians to get everything to which they’re entitled.”

Most of the speculation over what the governor might not accept has dealt with money to expand the state’s unemployment insurance program. While in Washington this week for meetings on the stimulus, Perdue told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he is concerned the state would have to raise business taxes to maintain the unemployment program at stimulus levels once the federal money expires.

Wednesday he said he still feels that way. Perdue took issue with state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, who has said he believes there would be “negligible” costs associated with accepting the unemployment insurance money.

Following the showering of Medicaid money, the Department of Transportation could be next to find its coffers growing with federal greenbacks. DOT Commissioner Gena Evans said she expects to receive stimulus money March 10.

“We’re a little bit ahead of the game,” she said. “We anticipate we’ll be one of the first ones out of the gate.”

The state is expected to qualify for more than $900 million in money for roads and bridges. The DOT board meets today and Evans plans to outline the different pots of money the state could tap. Each “bucket,” as she called them, will have its own set of projects, some of which could become known today.

Along with Medicaid and Transportation, the Department of Education has much at stake in the stimulus.

After meetings with the Obama administration in Washington on Wednesday, Georgia schools Superintendent Kathy Cox said,”We’re really hoping, across the board, that this will help us avoid layoffs in our school systems.”

In all, Georgia is expected to get about $2.2 billion over three years in stimulus and other federal funds for education, Cox said. Her office is responsible for figuring out how to dole out about half of that; the governor is responsible for the rest.

Cox said she and Perdue’s office will figure out exactly how the money will be spent in coming weeks. She said she expects the money will start flowing to Georgia in the next month or so.

Until then, she said, teachers and other school workers worried about losing their jobs and parents worried about growing class sizes should “just hold on, don’t panic - we’re all trying to navigate this together,” Cox xaid.

“We’re all kind of in this holding pattern right now and we should have answers in the next couple of weeks” she said. “Everybody is committed to working really hard so we don’t leave anybody in limbo.”

Among those slated to lose their jobs are school nurses statewide. But Wednesday, Cox said there’s a chance their jobs may be saved too thanks to the stimulus money.

“If there’s a way, as they re-evaluate the budget with this stabilization money, I know that restoring that line item of school nurses is a priority of many legislators,” Cox said. “And I know the cut the governor made to that was not one of his first choices.”

The stimulus money is especially important to states such as Georgia because in many of the state’s rural areas, school districts are the biggest employers, Cox said.

“So the fact that we can prevent teacher layoffs and some of the other harsh things we were going to have to do is great,” she said.

As for how the state moves forward, Perdue and staff had clear directions for agencies.

Celeste Osborn, the state’s deputy financial officer charged with overseeing the stimulus package, warned: “There are no administrative shortcuts. We have one chance to get this right.”

Perdue himself made that clear.

“I do want you, department leaders, to be directly engaged and knowledgeable,” he said. “It is you I’ll hold responsible.”

State lawmakers, dealing with a more than $2 billion hole in the current state budget, have set their sights on millions in stimulus money for deficits in education and homeowner tax relief grants.

The 2008-09 budget hits the House floor today and Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans) said it’s been a hard slog.

“One of the things I learned is that in a tough economy, everybody wants to cut government,” Harbin said. “They just don’t want to cut theirs. We have tough choices to make, but we have to make the choices.”

Staff writer James Salzer contributed to this report.