Lawmakers this week are busy meeting in Atlanta. They're deciding how to spend your tax dollars and passing laws that could change your life.
The annual legislative session is underway, and Savannah and Chatham County have a lot riding on what happens at the capitol.
Bridge repairs, beach renourishment, new roads - just a few things local governments depend on the state of Georgia to provide. This year they say they also need money for health care.
A bill to create and fund a state wide trauma center network would help memorial health stay afloat.
Bob Colvin, Memorial Health President & CEO, says, "We are going to tell the legislature, the politicians who are in power, that if in fact we can't maintain some funding roughly equivalent to what we are losing - by the end of the legislative session some commitment to that - we will in fact give up our level one trauma status."
Every government entity is on the same page when it comes to a plan to replace property taxes for education with a sales tax. They all oppose it. Mainly they say because it would take control of your taxes away from local leaders and give it to lawmakers in Atlanta.
Savannah leaders want the state to give back some of the eminent domain power they lost a couple of years ago. They say restrictions on their ability to take rundown and dilapidated properties have slowed redevelopment efforts.
The big item on the agenda this year is a plan to allow Atlanta to suck water out of the Savannah river. Local leaders say such inter-basin transfer would put all our water supplies at risk.
The legislature meets for forty days. At the end of the month, Savannah and Chatham County leaders will travel to Atlanta to lobby lawmakers in person...with a lavish Lowcountry boil. The party is considered the highlight of the session.
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