The question as it appears on the ballot:
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide for a reduction in the state’s operating costs by allowing the General Assembly to authorize certain state agencies to enter into multiyear rental agreements?
Voters will determine if Georgia should change the way it leases buildings, a move supporters say would save the state millions.
The statewide ballot includes a constitutional amendment question that would allow state agencies to enter multi-year lease agreements. Agencies can currently sign only one-year agreements.
Early voting started Monday and election day is Nov. 6.
Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, said state agencies pay higher fees when they sign a one-year deal and would get better rates under longer terms. Carter, who sponsored the legislation to get the amendment on the ballot, noted landlords are reluctant to make improvements when tenants only sign one-year leases.
“This will save taxpayers money,” Carter said.
The change would save an estimated $66 million over the next decade, according to the State Properties Commission, which manages most government leases. About 20 percent of the 1,800 leases managed by the properties commission would benefit from the change, spokesman Paul Melvin said.
The State Board of Regents handles leases for the University System of Georgia and officials there support the amendment.
Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Austell, voted against the amendment’s legislation because of concern with the ballot’s wording. The ballot states that the change would allow the state to save money. While that is the intent, Wilkerson said, there is no guarantee that will happen.
Wilkerson said the concept of multi-year leases “makes sense,” but he worried about the state being locked into future commitments without knowing how Georgia’s finances will look.
Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, also voted against the bill and expressed concern about future administrations being bound by agreements set by their predecessors.
“You don’t want to be caught in a situation you can’t get out of,” Taylor said.
Carter said there is a chance agencies would have to break leases, but that they wouldn’t enter into long-term agreements lightly.
Multi-year leases would be limited up to 20 years and would have to receive board approval. Each agreement would include a clause that states it is subject to annual budget appropriations. And the total multi-year lease contract value could not exceed an annual cap to be set by the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission.
The properties commission has been working on this issue for several years, Melvin said. Other states — including California, Minnesota and Pennsylvania — allow agencies to sign multi-year leases, according to a survey the commission conducted in 2007.
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