College Football Hall of Fame money in budget, rural money, horse facility, out.
The state House budget plan for the upcoming year, which just passed a key committee, includes $10 million to help pay for the new College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Officials said the money will go to buy land for the facility, which is moving from South Bend, Ind. to Atlanta. Lawmakers initially griped about including the money in the budget since they have been cutting back on funding for halls of fame in recent years.
Meanwhile, the House budget gutted Gov. Sonny Perdue’s proposal to pump $67 million into the OneGeorgia rural economic development program. Lawmakers also cut out $9.1 million Perdue wanted the state to borrow for the third phase of a massive expansion of horse facilities at the state fairgrounds.
OneGeorgia, which has been funded with money from the national tobacco lawsuit settlement for about a decade ago, used reserves to give out grants this year. It has been projected that the program will have $50 million in the bank at the end of this fiscal year.
Perdue wanted to pump another $47 million into the program directly, along with $20 million from the sale of a training center OneGeorgia paid to build to train Kia workers. Perdue wanted another state agency, the Department of Adult and Technical Education, to borrow money to buy the center, with the proceeds going to OneGeorgia.
The House rejected putting any more money into OneGeorgia, which has been controversial for years. In December 2009, a month before the legislative session, the OneGeorgia board gave a $598,000 grant to Houston County to help prepare for Little League Baseball Inc.’s move to Warner Robins. Perdue, chairman of the OneGeorgia board, is from Houston County.
Some OneGeorgia money has not gone for rural projects. OneGeorgia put $4.6 million into the Columbus expansion of one of Georgia’s most politically connected companies, AFLAC insurance. Money has gone into remodeling a pricey Augusta hotel and helped pay for machinery for a Boeing Corp. facility in Macon. Honda, AirTran and FedEx have also benefited from OneGeorgia money.
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30 comments Add your comment
General Sherman
April 13th, 2010
2:01 pm
Spending money for a college football hall of fame still sux.Sonny you need to go now and the people who voted for it.
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2:01 pm
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Base
April 13th, 2010
2:06 pm
The budget process is out of control! Boot them all out.
The Chicago Way
April 13th, 2010
2:07 pm
That $10M could’ve went towards education, but I digress.
Sports Fans want Newcastle Ale
April 13th, 2010
3:43 pm
Use that $10 million to renovate the beer selection at Philips Arena.
I’ve had all the Bud Light and Molson Canadian I can stand!
John Seegal
April 13th, 2010
4:56 pm
@The Chicago Way: “That $10M could’ve went towards education,…”
Your blog pretty well backs up what you said! Evidently, it was too late in your case.
The Seegster
Sick and tired
April 13th, 2010
5:02 pm
$10 million for the football hall of fame, you have got to be kidding me. That $10 million needs to be spent on education, so my children won’t be sittin gin overcrowded classrooms next year with stressed out teachers. If this pork barrel mess stays in the budget when the final one is passed I will be voting out my representatives in the election.
Jeff Davis Countian
April 13th, 2010
5:23 pm
Sick and Tired, are you a card carrying member of the T.E.A. Party? That sounds like the same old rubbish they are tossing out on a daily basis.
Paddy O
April 13th, 2010
5:30 pm
Jeff Davis: Your priorities are grossly skewed. The state can NOT afford the two halls in Macon, we are still paying off the Hall in Augusta. We do NOT need to spend taxpayer $$$ on this crap – of course, the land is probably owned by a bank that loaned Sonny a bunch of forgivable loans. One GA has been ruined by Sonny. Sonny Perdue, the worst Governor since the Revolution.
JoeV
April 13th, 2010
5:33 pm
Money spent on the College Football Hall of Fame is money well spent people. This will bring TEN’S OF MILLIONS of dollars to the city of Atlanta every year! This isn’t a horse stall or a fishing museum people, its a tourist attraction! And it will be centrally located unlike the lame Georgia Music and Sports Halls of Fame in Macon! If you build it they will come!
Jeff Davis Countian
April 13th, 2010
6:34 pm
College football is overrated. Why not spend the money to build a dock on Lake Jackson.
Ridiculous!
April 13th, 2010
7:42 pm
Didn’t we just cut funding for two halls in Macon because they were losing money? and now the state wants to pay $10 MILLION that could have gone to education or transportation and spend it on luring another museum that couldn’t pay the bills? The legislature has lost their dadgum mind!
Won't somebody please think of the Children?!
April 13th, 2010
7:47 pm
This hall was also losing money–like the ones in Macon and August–so why should we pay $10 Million for it when we are laying off 1,000’s of teachers and can’t afford to address our congestion?
General Sherman
April 13th, 2010
8:07 pm
JoeV …..Are you freaking crazy or drunk.None of these lame places make money.
Dick
April 13th, 2010
8:42 pm
I went to one of the hall of fames in Macon and also one at Tallegahee speed way. They both were a bust. The one in Macon was nothing more than a few jersey’s with notatons. I say if football fans in Georiga wants a hall of fame, let the college sports programs pay for them along with the professional teams. Our elected offcials are a joke, everyone of them local, state and federal
Dick
April 13th, 2010
8:43 pm
Joe V!! the zoo in Atlanta was suppose to be a tourist attraction as well. What happened.?
Go Fish, Georgia
April 13th, 2010
11:28 pm
Unemployed teachers get in free!
Manny being...
April 14th, 2010
12:52 am
Let’s raise it to $12 mil and let illegals in free. Hey, paying for our their 12 kids school and medical just isn’t enough. Why they can’t even jaywalk in Cobb without having a kid or two bring clipped anymore.
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WHC
April 14th, 2010
5:17 am
Economics!
Great investment for future revenues (hotels, restaurants etc;). If South Bend can garner 60,000 admissions Atlanta could double that number with all the conventions here and folks looking for something to do. State puts up $10M (owns land) while others puts up another $40M+.
Mark Taylor
April 14th, 2010
7:08 am
This story is badly written. It’s not $10 million this year. It’s a few hundred thousand dollars this year because the project is financed through bonds, which spreads the $10 million cost out over a decade or more into the future.
I’m not saying the College Hall of Fame is a good idea, but I am saying that the cost is not “$10 million while teachers go without pay.” That’s just a factually incorrect statement.
Carmen
April 14th, 2010
9:24 am
So while the state’s shuttering schools we’re getting a nifty new hall of fame? Outstanding! I’ve always said that educaytion is overrated.
General Sherman
April 14th, 2010
10:12 am
Mark Taylor..If you are the real one,you still suck and glad you were defeated. You were part of problem that is happening now!
Im4UGA
April 14th, 2010
10:45 am
I would like to see the College Football HOF in ATL as it would give something else to do within the city. My only problem is that in a time when the state is cutting back and teachers are losing their jobs, but the NCAA is turning in record amounts of revenue….why can’t the NCAA pay for the HOF? The BCS pays in the area of $13 million per team for those that get into a BCS game, I don’t think it is out of the realm of reality to ask the NCAA to atleast pay for the property. You could even put in some type of clause that if the HOF were to close down, that the land and building would revert back to the state.
Just my opinion.
Earnest
April 14th, 2010
3:55 pm
What a waste of money. At least OneGeorgia is dead. Sounds like bribes for hillbillies.
Newsflash! South Georgia could disappear and nobody would know or care.
Chris in Savannah
April 14th, 2010
5:55 pm
Hey Earnest, South Georgia would say the same thing to all of the self-righteous in Atlanta. More and more all of those big businesses are moving outside of the perimeter.
GA Teacher
April 16th, 2010
8:50 am
This is a blatant abuse of state money!! With all of the teachers being laid off, and funding cut for student programs, who gives a crap about football???? I personally can’t wait until the next voting year! I say we “CLEAN HOUSE!!!”
Earnest
April 16th, 2010
10:03 am
Chris, outside the perimeter is still in the metro Atlanta area. Atlanta is the golden goose that pays for roads, parks, and pork barrels throughout the state.
Savannah does have some things going for it, though, as do Augusta and Athens.
Celeste
April 19th, 2010
5:26 pm
More money for public education? The gov already spends hundreds of millions to waste the minds of Georgia kids. No more money for public education and its overpaid, under-performing teachers. Private tutors could do a better job for less money, even a computer program could do a better job and the kids wouldn’t get in trouble for skipping school.
Rita
April 19th, 2010
6:36 pm
I could not believe this story until I found it myself. Closing of schools, teachers losing their jobs and the repercussions to the kids of today and tomorrow? In the mist of all of this we need a Football Hall of Fame? Give me a break. We need to wake up PEOPLE! How can we stand by and watch this money go for something so trival when our friends and family are struggling due to budget cuts within the school system? When our children are left hanging due to inadequate teaching and over crowding? We the people need to grow a set of balls and start fighting for what is right. There is nothing right about this no matter how you look at it!!!!!!!!!!