While Georgia’s Department of Public Health is battling the coronavirus pandemic, its leaders say it will have to furlough staffers — including those working in infectious disease control and epidemiology — one day a month to meet state-mandated spending cuts.
The agency would also slash grants to county health departments by almost $18 million and cut a host of other programs, according to budget plans obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
[…] Danny Kanso, a policy analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute think tank, urged lawmakers to consider raising revenue by taking steps such as increasing the state’s relatively low cigarette taxes and cutting back on special interest tax breaks.
