Monthly Archives: January 2013

On the surface, the governor’s budget recommendation for the Archives does not look that bad.

Of course, any cut is too much, given the amount of cuts the Archives already has endured.

Maybe, however, it really is that bad.

Last fall, Secretary of State Brian Kemp recommended a $730,000 cut and termination of seven of ten Archives employees. Gov. Nathan Deal later restored $125,000 to allow the Archives to stay open two days a week and two employees to be retained through the end of the fiscal year.  The fiscal year ends on June 30.

Thus, the Archives will continue into the new fiscal year with a $605,000 cut. Since that cut already is in place, the figure was not included in the report issued by the Office of Planning and Budget last week.

On top of that, the governor is recommending an additional $70,000 cut for Fiscal Year 2014.

The University System of Georgia has yet to recommend to the legislature a Fiscal Year 2014 budget for the Archives. In addition, the USG may be able to provide essential services to the Archives that would loosen the Archives budget.

Regardless of what decisions come from the University System, it is more important than ever that every Archives supporter contacts his/her state legislator.

Vivian Price Saffold

University System of Georgia officials presented recommendations for the Georgia Archives’ at the legislative budget hearing yesterday at the state capitol.

Chancellor Hank Huckaby and Assistant Chancellor for Fiscal Affairs John Brown presented the governor’s recommendation for $3,851,428 for Fiscal Year 2014.

Gov. Nathan Deal recommended a total of $4,384,099  for both the Archives and the Georgia Records Center.

Georgia Archives director Chris Davidson said he expected Gov. Deal to recommend a budget decrease, an opinion supported by the Governor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Budget Report published by Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget. However, the recommended decrease falls far short of the $730,000 recommended last fall by Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

The report on the Archives – found under the Board of Regents rather than the Secretary of State – also states:

“The purpose of this appropriation is to maintain the state’s archives; document and interpret the history of the Georgia State Capitol building; and assist State Agencies with adequately documenting their activities, administering their records management programs, scheduling their records, and transferring their non-current records to the State Records Center.”

The location of the report and the statement of purpose appear to confirm that the Archives, along with the state Records Center, will move to the University System of Georgia which is administered by the Board of Regents.

The report also cites the following recommended change: “Transfer the Archives and Records program and 10 positions from the Secretary of State.” The Georgia Archives and the Records Center each currently has five employees.

Although the transfer must be approved by the state legislature,  Chancellor Huckaby already has named members of a transition team. The committee’s first meeting was held on Jan. 9.

As of that date, transfer legislation had not been written. Whether the legislation simply will authorize the transfer or will contain details of the move was not known at press time. Legislation transferring the state’s libraries to the USG in 2010 contained no details.

Vivian Price Saffold