Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, March 24, 2021/Page 16A
She Aiiuancg
State budget heavy with spending
on education, health care sails
through Senate committee
Dr. John V. Spence and the Wound Care Group
Meadows Advanced Wound
Care Receives National Awards
for Clinical Excellence
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia Senate bud
get writers put their stamp
Monday on Gov. Brian
Kemp’s $27.2 billion fiscal
2022 state spending plan.
The Senate Appro
priations Committee voted
unanimously to send the
proposed budget to the
floor for a vote expected on
Tuesday.
As was the case when
the state House of Repre
sentatives approved the
budget early this month, the
Senate panel heavily tilted
spending toward education
and health care.
The budget would
restore $567.5 million in
“austerity” cuts to Georgia
public schools lawmakers
imposed last year when the
state’s economy was being
hammered by the coronavi-
rus pandemic.
“Our state finances
have out-performed what
we expected them to be,”
Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia,
the committee’s chairman,
explained.
The Senate also sup
ported the House in add
ing $1 million in grants to
charter schools and kicked
in another $1 million on its
own for grants for computer
science instruction.
Like the House, the
Senate put special empha
sis on mental health, add
ing about $40 million more
for the state Department
of Behavioral Health and
Developmental Disabilities
than Kemp recommended
in January.
Both the House and
Senate want $12.3 million
to fund a 5% increase to pro
viders of services to Geor
gians with intellectual and
developmental disabilities
and $7 million for a behav
ioral crisis center.
The Senate version
of the budget would fund
pay raises for a number of
“critical positions” in state
agencies , including the de
partments of Banking and
Finance, Driver Services,
Corrections and Juvenile
Justice.
The committee also
supported Kemp’s recom
mendations for $10 million
to expand the deployment
of rural broadband. Another
$20 million for that initia
tive is included in the fiscal
2021 mid-year budget the
governor signed last month.
The Senate budget ups
the ante on a controversial
proposal to hire a “chief
labor officer” to help the
Georgia Department of La
bor catch up with a backlog
of unemployment claims
arising from the pandemic.
The committee is rec
ommending $198,916
for the position, up from
$99,458 in the House bud
get.
Senate budget writ
ers added a number of new
spending items, includ
ing $1.5 million to pay for
additional ballot security
measures required in legisla
tion the Senate passed two
weeks ago.
The committee also
added $1 million to pay for
consultants working with
the Georgia Commission
on Freight and Logistics,
and put in $700,000 for the
Georgia Research Alliance,
one of several proposals
from Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan
aimed at boosting Georgia’s
bid to become the technol
ogy leader of the East Coast.
The Senate also is look
ing to a nearly $1 billion
bond package to fund build
ing projects requested by
senators. The committee
increased funding for the
planned Jack and Ruth Ann
Hill Convocation Center
at Georgia Southern Uni
versity - named for the late
senator and his wife - from
the $32.2 million the House
recommended to $36.7 mil
lion.
Senate budget writers
put in $ 1 million in bonds to
design an academic building
on the Cumming campus
of the University of North
Georgia and recommended
funding to build commer
cial truck driving facilities at
Atlanta Technical College,
Georgia Piedmont Techni
cal College in Lithonia and
Wiregrass Technical Col
lege in Douglas. Commer
cial truck driving is among
occupations that have been
identified as in short supply
in Georgia.
The Senate commit
tee’s budget acknowledges
the influx of federal funds
heading Georgia’s way fol
lowing congressional pas
sage of President Joe Biden’s
American Rescue Plan eco
nomic stimulus bill earlier
this month.
But Tillery cautioned
those will be one-time
funds. He said Georgia’s rev
enue situation still remains
precarious, as the state De
partment of Revenue pre
pares for what promises to
be a huge flurry of income
tax refunds it will have to
issue to unemployed Geor
gians whose benefits were
taxed.
“There’s a lot of uncer
tainty on the horizon,” he
said.
Meadows Advanced
Wound Care Center has
been named a recipient of
the Center of Distinction
Award and the Robert A.
Warriner III, MD, Center of
Excellence Award by Hea-
logics, Inc., the nation's larg
est provider of advanced
wound care services.
The Center of Distinc
tion Award is given to cen
ters to acknowledge the
hard work, dedication, and
accomplishments of staff
members to deliver care,
treatment, and services
in a manner that exceeds
the performance of other
wound care centers.
The Robert A. Warri
ner III Clinical Excellence
Award measures clinical ex
cellence using the center’s
Comprehensive Healing
Rate. Centers receiving this
prestigious recognition are
in the top 10% of the com
pany.
“As an organization, we
are extremely proud of this
huge accomplishment for
Dr. [John V.] Spence and
the team at the Wound Care
Center,” said Jeffery Hard
en, Meadows Health Vice
President of Patient Care
Services and Chief Nursing
Officer. “While the pan
demic has certainly created
challenges, their dedication
to the patients at the wound
care center never wavered.
They strive daily to offer a
superior level of care.”
Meadows Advanced
Wound Care Center is lo
cated in the back of Mead
ows Wellness Center at
101 Harris Industrial Blvd.,
Suite E in Vidalia. For addi
tional information call, 912-
277-2077.
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