The 1.6 billion dollar shortfall is causing our state politicians to search endlessly, anywhere, for a suitable scapegoat.

It was decided that the blame would be placed on local governments- with the intent of damaging local mayors and city councils- instead of the state house representatives that are up for re-election in 70 days.

Some local politicians aren’t having it. First, Heidi Davison from Athens-Clarke County came out swinging; now, Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd delivers a punch:

The Mayor of Atlanta gets hammered for a shortfall in revenue and she is vilified, but now, less than four months after the Governor signs his approval of the state budget, his revenue estimates are off by almost 2 billion dollars, that’s with a B, and there is no outcry. It looks to me like someone should ask how that happened. Was the economy not in trouble in March? Should not the buck stop at the governor’s desk? But then the governor says it’s not his fault; it’s those incompetent city and county folks who have messed everything up.

This is important. If the Governor can successfully sell this snake-oil, it’ll mean the people truly responsible for this mess (state representatives) will get re-relected. It means the same people that made this mess will be given another two years to screw it up even more.

It’s the STATE budget that has increased one billion a year, each year, for six straight years.

It’s the STATE budget that continues to cut education, which results in higher property taxes as local school boards struggle to maintain bare-bones funding for an exploding population.

It’s the STATE budget that flourished while all the signals of a declining economy were ignored.

This is not a local issue. It’s a state issue, and the legislators who passed this budget need to be replaced.

*hat tip to Peach Pundit.