Tough times demand decisions that can be as easy to envision as they are difficult to implement. Slashing budgets, and the services and jobs they paid for, was bitter medicine for Georgia during the Great Recession.
The return of better economic times presents Georgia’s leaders with another side of the leadership coin: how to invest for a brighter future when government revenues have recovered. That can actually be the tougher scenario to navigate.
Competent managers can move enterprises through a downturn. Numbers often guide the way. Cut and tighten until both sides of the ledger line up. It’s wrenching work nonetheless that demands resolve and fortitude.
In more-flush times, plotting a sound course forward demands leadership, vision and innovation, in addition to by-the-books management competence. In that sense, stepping toward an uncertain future – even during economic boom years — requires as much, and likely more, courage and wisdom than managing through a recession.
That’s where Georgia finds itself in 2016. Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers put this challenge well last week during the annual Eggs & Issues breakfast. “As we reflect on the past and honor the past, we have to plan for the future.”
House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) noted at the event that “these are good times in Georgia.” He’s right. After years of scrimping, there is money available for the state – and the private sector – to begin making investments that can further secure Georgia’s future as a leading place in which to live and do business.
Another Eggs & Issues speaker, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, in speaking of the Georgia Senate said that in 2016, “we cannot afford to get caught up in the trivial, we have to focus on the essential.” Those words can apply to all of Georgia.
As in 2016 should not be a year of delay, inaction – or ill-advised action. Even in an election year when theatrics and other vote-drawing tactics will likely reach spectacular heights, the Georgia General Assembly will do well to sight-in on doing the right things this year for today and tomorrow. It might help if the state’s motto of “Wisdom, Justice, Moderation” was stapled atop each lawmaker’s desk. The physician oath’s admonition to “utterly reject harm and mischief” couldn’t hurt either.
This advice applies to most any issue facing lawmakers. Based on last week’s table-setting speeches, key topics this year will be education reform, transportation and rural healthcare. Aside from transportation, the scenery hasn’t changed much here, as these remain tenacious, formidable challenges. Addressing them is critical to Georgia’s future.
Gov. Deal’s already indicated last week that he’s backing off the throttle this year on comprehensive school reform. He’s correct in that it is better to get it right, than get it fast. We would be remiss in not noting, however, that these are not new issues. Another year of slow, if any, progress delays further the full slate of actions necessary to get past this long-lived competitive disadvantage for our state.
Enhancing the performance of both Georgia’s k-12 and higher education systems is vital to creating the workforce that employers need. So let’s keep pushing toward improvements that stand the best chance of yielding improvement.
During last week’s curtain-raisings, state officials rightfully praised the road and bridge work that will be paid for by 2015’s HB 170, which raised motor fuel taxes. As we’ve said before, lawmakers acted courageously in passing a tax hike bound to prove unpopular with many. It was the right thing to do, as the list of mobility-easing projects announced last week shows. We’ll suggest that even the most-skeptical of voters will benefit from long-delayed work that’s now getting underway.
Lawmakers are also correct in recognizing that the state’s healthcare system is still in need of work toward financial sustainability. Many rural hospitals are struggling and hundreds of thousands of Georgians still lack comprehensive health care, which imposes a very real cost on emergency rooms and the complex web of health providers and payors. Georgia should join the states that are seeking real ways to fix this well-known, long-lived problem.
Business leaders know that strategic investments are as much a part of success as is managing always-scarce resources. We urge state leaders to act in concert with that knowledge as they make choices in 2016.
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