Ga. economic development department may slash marketing budget

By Leon Stafford
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia Department of Economic Development, which has successfully lured Hollywood to shoot films in the state over the past few years," may soon have to cut back its marketing budget.

Leaders with the department said Thursday that the state has asked them to cut the budget by as much as 8 percent in fiscal 2011, which began July 1, and as much as 10 percent the following year.

That may mean fewer reminders to people around the globe that Georgia is the Peach State or less advertising luring domestic travelers to Vidalia to sample the city's onions.

"Right now the cuts we are looking at are in marketing," Commissioner Heidi Green said. "We will do less on the PR side and less on the advertising side. We'll also reduce the number of trade shows we attend."

The GDEcD, which has a $9.4 million budget for marketing in fiscal 2011, had made personnel cuts, and there were previous cuts in marketing and operations. But facing overall budget reductions for the fourth straight year, the department said it had no choice but to reduce marketing efforts.

The mandated cuts come at a time when the department says its has produced strong economic results. At its quarterly meeting Thursday, Green said the department, with an overall budget for fiscal 2011 of $26.6 million, had brought almost 19,500 jobs to the state in fiscal 2010, up 14.7 percent from fiscal 2009. Companies invested $3.75 billion in communities around the state, a 46.7 percent increase from fiscal 2009.

Greg Torre, interim director of the department's film, music and digital entertainment division, said 330 movie, video game and music productions have been produced in the state so far this year.

"It has been a successful year for the department," Green said.

The state has mandated cuts across the board because of budget shortfalls related to the struggling economy. The Georgia Department of Economic Development had already seen its overall budget cut 25 percent between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2010, leaders said.

The challenge, Green said, will be to maintain the state's push to attract new jobs. Much of the state's new jobs have been with smaller companies employing fewer than 100 workers, a key department target.

"We know that small business is what is driving the economy," she said. "We are definitely maintaining that small business connection."