Georgia Lawmakers return to Atlanta this week

Georgia lawmakers are back in Atlanta picking up where they left off when the General Assembly suddenly came to a halt at the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

Their top priority in the last two weeks of June is to revamp and reset the State Budget for fiscal 2021 and make adjustments to the fiscal 2020 budget because of the impacts on the economy the coronavirus crisis has had on the State’s finances.

State Representative Alan Powell indicated the pandemic will likely result in steep budget cuts in areas affecting Franklin, Hart, and Stephens counties.

And one of those areas, according to a report on AccessWDUN is the closing of some 53 Department of Family and Children’s Services offices, including the office in Stephens County.

DFACS director Tom Rawlings said in an email to state lawmakers, his plan is to cut physical DFACS offices across the State by 14%.

Rawlings said those offices would be replaced with what he called a “hub and spoke” system in which one office serves several counties.

He would also keep many case workers on a tele-work system, which they’ve been on since the pandemic began.

Rawlings says cuts to the DFCS budget would total $93.2 million dollars.