Gov. Perdue talks about the economy and taxes

Tools

A Flash player error has occured, please make sure you have the latest Adobe Flash Player. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

By Steve Kuzj skuzj@nbcaugusta.com

Governor Sonny Perdue ate barbecue in Evans Wednesday.

The governor hosted a luncheon to help raise money for U.S. Congressman Paul Broun's re-election campaign.

Arriving fashionably late to Congressman Broun's fundraiser, Gov. Perdue spoke to a crowd of about 100 to promote Broun in the upcoming November election.

Lately, Gov. Perdue has had a tough time balancing out Georgia's budget after yearly revenues came up about $1.6 billion less than expected.

“Obviously our revenues are down,” said Gov. Perdue. “We don't know how far we're in or whether we're coming out of that. We're gonna deliver services to the people that need them and do that with minimal disruption. We're gonna do more with less.”

Georgia schools have felt the budget crunch especially hard. Many school programs, teaching positions and classes are all victims of a tough economy.

Despite the cuts, Gov. Perdue says the state's educational department is one of the lucky ones.

“Education is only being impacted by 2 and a half percent,” said Gov. Perdue. “I've asked other agencies to cut 6 percent. So we'll do that and do it without impacting educational performance across the state.”

The homestead tax exemption is another hot button issue with Georgia taxpayers. Gov. Perdue voted against the exemption, which would give homeowners a tax break. He says citizens should look to their local governments and question them if their taxes go up.

“The homeowner tax relief grant is a politically radioactive issue,” said Gov. Perdue. “The fact is that the facts point out that citizens have not gotten the benefit of that relief. If it could go to citizens and we could discover some way it could go to citizens without their taxes being raised through a back door tax increase.”

After the fundraiser, Gov. Perdue traveled back to Atlanta. Next week he'll be in St. Paul, Minnesota for the Republican National Convention.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 500 Characters Left

Comments are moderated and will not appear on this story until after they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.

WAGT and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

WAGT Weather

Click here for 7 Day Forecast
Icon
Current Temp 52 °F
Mostly Cloudy
More Weather

WAGT Weather

On Demand

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

What's On Tonight Full Schedule

Viewer Poll

Did you vote in the runoff election?

  • Yes, I voted today
  • Yes, I voted early
  • No, I did not vote this time