This week, PolitiFact Georgia and the AJC Truth-O-Meter tackled two of the most important issues in government: jobs and taxes.
We examined a claim by Gov. Nathan Deal about the state government’s employees, and how years without raises have impacted the workforce. We took to the history books to determine whether Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves was correct in a claim about his county’s millage rate.
We also questioned a Twitter message about the solar industry by one of the state’s public service commissioners.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below, and full versions can be found at: www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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John Eaves: Fulton County government hasn’t raised its millage rate since 1991.
Eaves, Fulton County Commission chairman, made this claim in a television news interview earlier this month to reinforce his position that his county is well-managed.
That runs contrary to some north Fulton lawmakers who claim mismanagement, and passed bills to limit the commission’s ability to raise the county’s property tax rates in the future. Currently, Fulton’s tax rate equates to $720 on a $250,000 house with a homestead exemption. But county property taxes can vary depending on whether residents live in cities, which can add their own taxes.
Eaves was correct about the countywide 1991 tax increase. But the county also has a separate Special Services District, impacting about 90,000 south Fulton residents, to pay for services in that area. Taxes for that district have increased several times in recent years.
The chairman would have been more precise if he had specified the difference in the overall rate minus the special district taxes.
We rated Eaves’ claim Mostly True.
Tim Echols: There are about 120,000 solar energy jobs in the United States, but only 1,700 of them are in Georgia.
Echols, one of Georgia’s public service commissioners, used his Twitter account to get this message out earlier this month.
He based this claim on information from the Solar Foundation, which researches and promotes solar energy nationwide. Echols used the foundation’s annual solar jobs census report to source his numbers. But he misquoted the report on Georgia solar jobs. The number was actually 800 jobs for the Peach State.
We notified Echols about the mistake, which he admitted on his Twitter feed. He also tweeted out the correct information and the link to the report. We also checked with industry experts and found that solar jobs are hard to count. Based on the number of solar companies in the state, the jobs number could reach 1,700 or could be closer to the foundation’s reported 800 jobs.
Based on that report, Echols got the first part of his claim correct, but erred about Georgia.
We rated Echols’ claim Half True.
Gov. Nathan Deal: The state of Georgia lost 16 percent of its employees last year, and that percentage has risen over the last three years.
Georgia’s governor made this statement last month when discussing state employees doing more with less. In fact, those employees have not received across-the-board, merit raises in six years, Deal said, and that is raising employee turnover.
State jobs have decreased the past four fiscal years, according to state human resources data. But a closer look at the numbers shows that the 16 percent turnover figure also includes employees who have left their positions for all sorts of reasons, not just voluntary resignations. And in the case of voluntary resignations, the state doesn’t track information on these employees to determine whether they left for other jobs. Also, based on the jobs numbers, the state’s workforce has dropped only 2 percent over the past two fiscal years, which is likely a sign that many of the jobs have been refilled.
The governor’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and context.
We rated Deal’s claim Half True.
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