State fees likely to go up

By James Salzer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The state will collect $960 this year from a $10 licensing fee it charges airports to “foster safer operating conditions.”

That’s a little more than an Atlanta family of four would pay for round-trip airfare to Savannah.

“It’s a joke,” said Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus). “The administration and postage for that is more than we’re taking in.”

Hooks is right. The Department of Transportation says it costs $400 to do each of the safety inspections the fee — unchanged since 1978 — is supposed to fund.

It’s one of more than 100 fees for everything from licensing gun dealers and insurance agents to permitting billboards that the state hasn’t raised since 1992. Some of them have remained the same since the 1950s and 1960s.

That’s about to change.

As Legislative leaders struggle to balance the budget, they are reviewing hundreds of old state fees to determine if they should be raised. The goal: $100 million more in revenue.

That could mean higher fees for Georgians to renew their professional licenses, to borrow money for a home or to hunt on a private preserve.

“Obviously we’re trying to find dollars,” said Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Greg Goggans (R-Douglas). “We are trying to find fees that need to be brought up ... but there is nothing we are [considering] raising that will bring in more than it costs to provide a service.”

Republican leaders who a few months ago swore off tax or fee hikes have been softening their position in recent weeks as the extent of the state’s fiscal collapse has become more evident. They are considering new spending cuts that could reach $1 billion. They also have discussed proposals to increase cigarette taxes and tax hospitals, although neither has so far garnered much support.

Lawmakers will return Monday after a two-week break for budget hearings. During those hearings, agency directors rolled out worst-case scenarios. The University System raised the possibility of everything from astronomical tuition hikes and eliminating 4,000 jobs to reducing or ending politically popular programs like 4-H.

At the same time, legislative leaders designated Goggans and Rep. Richard Smith (R-Columbus) to begin reviewing about 1,700 state fees to see which ones might need to be updated.

A budget task force put together by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Senate leaders may recommend fee increases this week. And Goggans said legislative leaders are expected to consider legislation to raise some fees once they finish evaluating them.

In 2006, before the current budget crisis, the state Department of Audits found user fees were not administered consistently, were often outdated, and sometimes had no bearing on the cost of the services they were intended to fund.

A follow-up audit, released last year found that little had changed.

Auditors looked at four agencies — Agriculture, Banking, Human Resources and Natural Resources — and found they were collecting $174 million from 347 user fees in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005. About 50 of those fees were set more than 20 years ago; nearly half were more than 10 years old. Six had not been evaluated in more than 50 years.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis found that fees weren’t always going where they were intended. For instance, a fee on the purchase of prepaid cellphones, which has raised more than $15 million, was supposed to pay for improvements at 911 call centers around the state. The AJC found that none of it had gone for that.

A recent agency survey tallied nearly 1,800 different state fees. In some cases, department heads set the fees. In others, fees are set by the General Assembly.

In some cases, lawmakers are expected to recommend doubling or tripling fees — particularly in agriculture — that were approved decades ago.

One of the oldest fees on the list was set in 1955 by the Legislature. It assessed counties four cents per forested acre for fire protection.

“In 1955, four cents was a lot of money. You could get a piece of bubble gum for that,” said Dan Gary, director of administration at the State Forestry Commission.

The fee passed on to property owners across the state makes little difference in their tax bills, and the state raised less than $900,000 from it last year. The agency spent about $33 million on forestry protection last year.

One fee that’s nearly as old, dating back to 1963, is the $25 the state charges to license firearms dealers. John Thomas, lobbyist for GeorgiaCarry.org and former longtime lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, said there was talk of raising the fee during the fiscal crisis of 2003-2004. But gun advocates fought it off.

The last time many fees were changed was in the early 1990s, when Gov. Zell Miller and lawmakers proposed increases to deal with yet another financial mess.

The fee increases brought in about an extra $200 million a year at the time. Miller caught the most grief for hiking driver’s licenses and hunting and fishing licenses.

Among those changed were most of the licensing fees the Department of Insurance charges. Insurance agents have been paying $50 to renew their licenses, and companies have been paying $75 for filing to increase or lower their rates since 1992.

Hooks, who runs an insurance agency, said he wouldn’t have a problem with higher insurance fees.

But Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who is running for governor, would.

Oxendine became insurance commissioner in 1995. While he has complained about funding for his agency, Oxendine said he has never asked for fee increases.

“I think the government should live within its means,” he said. “If you raise a fee, you’re ultimately raising a tax on the people who pay it.”

Yet another fee that hasn’t changed since the early 1990s: late fees paid by politicians and candidates who are late filing campaign disclosure reports. The fee for being 15 days or more late filing reports has been $75 since 1993. The Ethics Commission said the state raised $90,000 from late fees last year. Legislation has been filed this session to raise the fees, although it’s unclear if lawmakers — who often have to pay the late fees — will go for it.

Goggans said lawmakers are also looking at raising the $6.50 fee the state charges on residential mortgage loans. That fee is 17 years old.

The senator said he’s not sure why the General Assembly hasn’t done a detailed review of state fees for so long.

“The revenues had been good, we haven’t been in the past searching for dollars,” he said. “We haven’t been looking at the budget as closely. But it’s 2010 and we’re trying to pass a [budget] bill that covers our costs.”

How we got the story

After hearing lawmakers ask state department directors about the fees they charge, the reporter interviewed legislative leaders, who told him they were considering fee increases to help balance the state budget. Acting on a tip, the reporter requested and received a survey from the Office of Planning and Budget detailing current state fees. The survey listed the cost of each fee, the purpose, and when the fee was last changed. The reporter found dozens of state fees that had not changed in decades and interviewed agencies about the history of those fees. The reporter also interviewed lawmakers, lobbyists and analysts about the fees.