A key lawmaker says despite a glimmer of hope from the latest revenue report, there’s not much there to help next year’s budget.

The meager 1 percent increase in revenue collections for March comes after more than a year of declining numbers. And Republican Senator Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) says that illustrates just how low the bar is in looking for good news in this economy.

But the chair of the Senate Appropriations committee says the revenue report does little to change how legislative budget writers approach their work when they return next week:

“I don’t think anybody’s hanging anything on numbers getting a lot better. We’re just hoping that things stabilize and they don’t get any worse and we continue to match month-by-month with last year. That would be a win.”

Hill says the same plan remains—implementing proposed cuts to fill a 1.1 billion dollar shortfall.

He does say a key for the 2011 budget is passage of the hospital revenue and fee bills before lawmakers.

Legislators pick up with the General Assembly next Monday. There are seven days remaining.

Tags: Georgia, lawmakers, state budget, state Capitol, tax collections, Republican Senator Jack Hill, revenue numbers