Scheduled federal budget cuts would mean a loss of $11,391,651 for the Georgia Department of Human Services next year. Here is what would be cut:
Title IV-B Child Welfare — $605,335
Social Services Block Grant (family programs) — $649,763
Promoting Safe & Stable Families — $456,109
PSSF Caseworkers — $59,147
Community Services Block Grant — $1,360,207
Low-Income Heat Energy Assistance Program — $4,627,677
Child Abuse Prevention Treatment Act — $64,423
Children’s Justice Act — $40,130
Employment & Training Voucher — $28,187
Chaffee Independent Living Program — $84,532
Senior Nutrition Programs — $2,385,259
Social Services Block Grants (aging programs) — $760,000
Aging Supplemental Nutrition — $226,287
Older American’s Act Ombudsman Services (resolution of complains from long-term care facilities) — $44,595
For Georgia, going over the “fiscal cliff” would mean less academic support for at-risk schoolchildren and fewer meals for low-income senior citizens, among other repercussions for cuts in most federal programs.
State agencies and local school boards are preparing for the likelihood that across-the-board cuts will go through at year’s end as part of a package of expiring policy that includes a slew of tax increases.
The scheduled cuts due in January would remove $104 million from Georgia’s coffers, posing a challenge in writing the fiscal 2014 budget. Local school districts would lose out on federal grant money. Under the Budget Control Act, most non-military federal programs face an 8.3 percent cut. Much of the military is scheduled for a 9.4 percent cut.
Washington leaders are trying to hammer out a deal to eliminate or soften the cuts as part of a long-term accord to bring down the nation’s record deficits. But Gov. Nathan Deal, who saw his share of deadline-driven political wrangling as a member of Congress for 17 years, does not expect an agreement by the year-end deadline.
“I am not confident at all,” Deal said in a phone interview. “I think we very well could go into a situation where the (George W. Bush-era) tax cuts expire and we go into the first of next year with increased rates and the rest of the issues not being resolved.”
Deal said he asked his agency heads for “contingency plans.” Deal spokesman Brian Robinson wrote in an email that the state expects to chip in a portion of the lost federal dollars. It is planning to spend $24 million to “strategically target essential programs, such as those that represent a life or safety need for Georgians.”
In all, the cuts constitute a relatively small portion of the state budget, which is $19.3 billion this year. Robinson said more detail will be provided when the governor’s office releases its budget in January, and by then the state will likely have a better idea of what federal cuts are on the line.
The state Department of Human Services is planning for the loss of $11.3 million in federal funding, including $4.62 million for heating bill assistance. Losing $2.38 million for senior nutrition programs means that the department will serve 183,149 fewer meals to low-income seniors, according to department spokeswoman Ravae Graham.
Millions more in cuts could be coming to school districts from federal Title I funds — which provide academic support services to those who are falling behind state standards at schools with high concentrations of low-income students — and to grants for special-needs education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The school lunch program is exempt from the federal program cuts, as lawmakers excluded some safety net programs.
The state Department of Education instructed its school districts to prepare for a 9 percent cut in the low-income students support and disabilities programs in their 2013-14 school year budgets.
For Fulton County Schools, that would mean a projected reduction of $5.28 million in federal money, said spokeswoman Susan Hale. Other local school districts’ officials said they had not yet analyzed the impact of the cuts and would do so when they plan their budgets.
Based on past federal grants, the reductions would likely be less than 1 percent of school district budgets.
“I don’t want to say $4 million is not a hard hit for us,” said Clayton County Schools spokesman David Waller, giving a potential figure, as the district has not analyzed the impact. “But we do have a half-billion-dollar budget, so it wouldn’t be a huge hit.”
The federal money flowing through the state and local school districts is only part of the puzzle of what the cuts would mean for Georgia. Military cuts will likely be felt across Georgia’s military installations, which include the massive Fort Gordon and Fort Stewart, and contractors. The Pentagon is only beginning to assess the specifics of where the ax will fall.
The cuts would hit the FBI, federal courts and air traffic control — all of which have a presence in Atlanta.
The Georgia Department of Transportation would be spared, as the scheduled cuts do not include “trust fund” programs for highways and transit. But the belt-tightening would be felt in other ways on transportation, said spokeswoman Jill Goldberg, as the across-the-board cuts would hit Amtrak and work on the state’s ports and waterways.
The cuts were included in last year’s Budget Control Act, an agreement to increase the federal borrowing limit in exchange for budget cuts. The across-the-board cuts were designed as a distasteful alternative in order to inspire a bipartisan deal on long-term budget reform.
So far that has not happened, leaving lawmakers distressed over the pending cuts — as well as the expiring tax cuts, long-term unemployment benefits, Medicare physician payment rates and other things due at year’s end. President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, the primary negotiators, appear far apart on the amount and method of any tax increases and spending cuts in a new agreement.
Deal said he is highly concerned about the damage spending cuts and tax hikes could do to the state’s economy, and he is worried by talk from some Democrats that they are willing to go into the new year without a deal to strengthen their bargaining hand on taxes. A stock market dip could follow.
“The markets may very well send a message to the White House and Democrats that this is a road that they cannot travel without having severe consequences,” Deal said.
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