Suzanimal
11-01-2015, 11:44 AM
Cherokee County retiree Harry Abrams is willing to accept the $650 he spent on new tires for his Toyota Highlander, but not the $4 fee the state tacks on to clean up tire dumps.
That’s because Abrams knows the money often never makes it into the state’s Solid Waste Trust Fund, where Georgians have been told for more than 20 years the money is supposed to go.
Audit questions Georgia’s need for full scrap tire fee
About $50 million collected from the $1 per tire fee has been funneled into the state’s general fund since 2003 as governors and lawmakers found other uses for money, part of a pattern of diverting money that has become more prevalent since the turn of this century.
“It should be eliminated,” Abrams said of the fee. “If they were actually using the money for its intended purpose, we wouldn’t have to worry about environmental hazards. To me, it’s a misappropriation of funds.”
In all, state lawmakers have diverted hundreds of millions of dollars of fee money — from landfill fees to court surcharges — in an effort to balance the budget, allowing them to avoid raising taxes or having to further cut spending. In doing so, they’ve collected money from Georgians telling them their fees were going for one thing, while spending them on another.
“It’s almost like a bait and switch,” said Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, who has championed stopping the diversions. “It’s a bipartisan issue about honesty in government.”
Money lawmakers told the public would go for environmental cleanups, police training or driver’s education has often gone into the general fund to be spent on pretty much everything else — from economic promotion effort to schools to paying off the debt on new buildings legislators approve.
“They are breaking every law in the book,” said Alan Brown, whose son’s death inspired the teen driver safety statute “Joshua’s Law.”
Now a new audit is questioning whether the state should continue charging the $1 per tire fee, arguing that officials are raising more than enough money to clean up dumps. The Department of Audits and Accounts report said state officials should do a more thorough review of the program before asking lawmakers to renew the fee in the future.
The analysis said while the so-called “scrap tire fee” that consumers pay when they buy new tires has been unchanged, the number of cleanups and other activities funded by the Solid Waste Trust Fund has dropped over the past 10 years.
$340 million in fees
While the audit focused on the tire fee, much the same could be said of several other fees the state charges.
A state report shows the government collects more than $340 million a year in fees and licenses that go into the state’s general fund.
Alligator hunters, elevator installers, cosmetology instructors, turtle farmers, tanning bed operators pay fees or for licenses. More than $91 million last year was collected on special court fees and assessments.
Some of the money goes to trust funds or into the general fund to cover the cost of licensing, or programs associated with those activities. Other money goes into the general fund with limited public accounting of how it’s spent or whether it covers the cost of the program it it is intended to support.
One high-profile example of the diversions has been “Joshua’s Law,” which was passed in 2005 and added a surcharge to traffic fines to establish driver education programs in Georgia schools. The law raised $10 million or more annually some years. But a 2011 state audit found that of $57 million collected at that point, only $8 million had actually been used for driver training.
In 2013 lawmakers cut the surcharge from 5 percent to 1.5 percent of the original fine for traffic offenses and shortly afterward Gov. Nathan Deal began allocating more money for driver’s education programs, including $2.9 million this year.
Still, Brown said only about 10 percent of the money the state reports it has raised over the past decade has gone to driver education programs.
The law forces teens to wait to get a license if they don’t take driver’s ed, and Brown said it has helped reduce teen driver fatalities by 60 percent.
“Just think what we could have done if we’d had all the money,” he said. “It’s been a success in spite of the government. State government has done everything it can to sabotage the program.”
At the rate the state is funding driver education programs, he said, it could take decades to get one in every school.
...
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/ga-diverts-taxpayer-fees-to-general-fund/npBjp/
That’s because Abrams knows the money often never makes it into the state’s Solid Waste Trust Fund, where Georgians have been told for more than 20 years the money is supposed to go.
Audit questions Georgia’s need for full scrap tire fee
About $50 million collected from the $1 per tire fee has been funneled into the state’s general fund since 2003 as governors and lawmakers found other uses for money, part of a pattern of diverting money that has become more prevalent since the turn of this century.
“It should be eliminated,” Abrams said of the fee. “If they were actually using the money for its intended purpose, we wouldn’t have to worry about environmental hazards. To me, it’s a misappropriation of funds.”
In all, state lawmakers have diverted hundreds of millions of dollars of fee money — from landfill fees to court surcharges — in an effort to balance the budget, allowing them to avoid raising taxes or having to further cut spending. In doing so, they’ve collected money from Georgians telling them their fees were going for one thing, while spending them on another.
“It’s almost like a bait and switch,” said Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, who has championed stopping the diversions. “It’s a bipartisan issue about honesty in government.”
Money lawmakers told the public would go for environmental cleanups, police training or driver’s education has often gone into the general fund to be spent on pretty much everything else — from economic promotion effort to schools to paying off the debt on new buildings legislators approve.
“They are breaking every law in the book,” said Alan Brown, whose son’s death inspired the teen driver safety statute “Joshua’s Law.”
Now a new audit is questioning whether the state should continue charging the $1 per tire fee, arguing that officials are raising more than enough money to clean up dumps. The Department of Audits and Accounts report said state officials should do a more thorough review of the program before asking lawmakers to renew the fee in the future.
The analysis said while the so-called “scrap tire fee” that consumers pay when they buy new tires has been unchanged, the number of cleanups and other activities funded by the Solid Waste Trust Fund has dropped over the past 10 years.
$340 million in fees
While the audit focused on the tire fee, much the same could be said of several other fees the state charges.
A state report shows the government collects more than $340 million a year in fees and licenses that go into the state’s general fund.
Alligator hunters, elevator installers, cosmetology instructors, turtle farmers, tanning bed operators pay fees or for licenses. More than $91 million last year was collected on special court fees and assessments.
Some of the money goes to trust funds or into the general fund to cover the cost of licensing, or programs associated with those activities. Other money goes into the general fund with limited public accounting of how it’s spent or whether it covers the cost of the program it it is intended to support.
One high-profile example of the diversions has been “Joshua’s Law,” which was passed in 2005 and added a surcharge to traffic fines to establish driver education programs in Georgia schools. The law raised $10 million or more annually some years. But a 2011 state audit found that of $57 million collected at that point, only $8 million had actually been used for driver training.
In 2013 lawmakers cut the surcharge from 5 percent to 1.5 percent of the original fine for traffic offenses and shortly afterward Gov. Nathan Deal began allocating more money for driver’s education programs, including $2.9 million this year.
Still, Brown said only about 10 percent of the money the state reports it has raised over the past decade has gone to driver education programs.
The law forces teens to wait to get a license if they don’t take driver’s ed, and Brown said it has helped reduce teen driver fatalities by 60 percent.
“Just think what we could have done if we’d had all the money,” he said. “It’s been a success in spite of the government. State government has done everything it can to sabotage the program.”
At the rate the state is funding driver education programs, he said, it could take decades to get one in every school.
...
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/ga-diverts-taxpayer-fees-to-general-fund/npBjp/