House considering penny tax for arts bill

By Howard Pousner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Because public funding for the arts remains weak in Atlanta and Georgia, a statewide coalition of cultural, business and civic leaders has lobbied hard for legislation that would support the arts and other initiatives.

HB 1049 would enable every Georgia county to hold a referendum on dedicating up to one penny of sales tax for arts and cultural groups and other economic development projects. Each county would be able to decide how to split its penny -- or fraction of a penny.

One model for the bill is Denver’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, which distributes roughly $43 million annually to more than 300 cultural organizations in the Colorado capital’s seven-county metropolitan area. The money is raised through a sales and use tax of one-tenth of 1 percent.

Flora Maria Garcia, CEO of the Metro Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition, says passage would be a “huge game changer for metro Atlanta’s cultural community, as well as cultural groups all over Georgia. If we are successful, cultural groups could experience meaningful public-sector funding that also leverages private sources, enough to contribute to long-term stability of the cultural industry.”

But with the end of the 40-day legislative session drawing near, there’s a question as to whether there’s enough time to pass the bill, which has bipartisan support. If it passes the House, it would still have to clear the Senate before moving to the desk of the governor.

While acknowledging that “it’s late in the session,” Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-DeKalb), the bill’s co-sponsor, said, “I think it has life.”

The Georgia Council for the Arts, the state's arts agency, is facing a 79 percent reduction in state funding for fiscal 2011, down to $890,735. Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposed budget also eliminates funding for the Georgia Humanities Council, a private nonprofit agency that received a $139,000 appropriation this year.

“We cannot afford to wait for next year,” Garcia said. “The cultural industry in Georgia is in dire straights now and needs relief now.”

If HB 1049 is signed into law, county referendums could take place as soon as year's end, Garcia says.