About The Advance. (Vidalia, Ga.) 2003-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 2021)
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. 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