Perdue Crunches Numbers

Gov. Sonny Perdue has announced that net revenue collections for May totaled $1.18 billion compared to $1.26 billion a year ago, a decrease of 6%, or $75.5 million for the month.

Individual income taxes for May were down 6.5% while corporate income taxes were off 60.6%. Motor fuel taxes were up by 29.4%. Through the end of May, fiscal year revenue collections were down 10.3% compared to the same period last year.

In early June, Perdue signed a $38.5 billion budget bill into law for fiscal 2011, which takes effect July 1.

"The economic downturn has forced a number of tough budgetary decisions, but we have worked closely with the House and Senate leadership to manage the state in a thoughtful, conservative way," he said. "We have maintained our triple-A bond ratings, which has saved the state nearly $100 million, and we continued funding our top priorities to ensure the basic responsibilities of state government are being met."

The 2011 budget includes $858 million in bond projects. Those include $171 million for primary school projects, $177 million for state universities, and $45 million for technical schools. Another $200 million is for transportation projects and $68 million is for the deepening of the Savannah River harbor.

Perdue vetoed $12 million in bonds for one elementary school project and four college projects that he said were not vetted or properly requested.

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Georgia
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