Georgia Revenue Numbers Fall in May ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - In number released today, the state of Georgia earned 6 and a half percent less in tax revenue last month than it did in May of last year.

"We're sending out more tax returns and those returns are higher than in years past," said Governor Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley.

In addition to cutting bigger tax return checks, the state sent more sales tax money to local governments last month than it did in May of 2009. Local tax money and state tax returns were the biggest reasons why last month's revenues numbers went down.

It's not the way the state wanted to close out fiscal year 2010, which ends June 30th. Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Jack Hill told W-A-B-E the budget is now about 100 million dollars in the red.

Hill said the Governor can plug the gap by using reserve money, and by spending some Federal stimulus money that had been budgeted for the 2011 fiscal year. But Hill warned that will probably mean further cuts in already-diminished state services after fiscal 2011 starts July first.

"So we could start out the year conceivably a couple hundred million easily in the hole in 2011; which means you gotta immediately start thinking about where you're going to cut in '11 to start meeting those targets ther," said Hill.

The 2011 budget just passed by the State Legislature assumes that state revenues will grow between now and next June. © Copyright 2012, WABE