The numbers just don't add

up for Rep. Lynn Westmoreland.

As the Sharpsburg Republican

gets geared up for the start of next week's General Assembly, he has been

busy analyzing data for this year's tight budget.

"From 1990-2003, the state

grew by 24 percent, but the budget spending increased by 86 percent. That

type of spending is not good for anybody," he said.

Gov. Roy Barnes has already

instructed department heads to look at ways to trim their budgets this

year, because of a soft economy.

Westmoreland said he plans

to look at ways to prevent the free-wheeling spending of the last decade

and approach all money matters in a more fiscally responsible manner.

While he believes the budget

is going to take up a lot of the legislators' time, he said several other

issues should rise to the top during the session, including:

Proposing a constitutional

amendment that adopts guidelines for redistricting.

"We have got to make sure

our citizens are protected from the type of political maneuvers that occurred

during this last batch of redistricting," he said.

Westmoreland was one of the

more outspoken critics of the way Barnes handled the new legislative and

congressional maps after the 2000 Census figures were released.

Tinkering with the governor's

education reform package.

Last year, the governor signed

off on reforms to his education package.

"He basically reformed

his program with Republican ideas. I don't know if he's going to propose

reforming his reforms or not," said Westmoreland.

Dealing with traffic congestion.

During the governor's first year, he pushed for the creation of the Georgia

Regional Transportation Authority. Now, critics are wondering what the

authority has done.

"The only thing they've

done is put buses in Clayton County. It's time to focus on roads, such

as programs in the Governor's Road Improvement Program, which has been

in place for 19 years," Westmoreland said.

As far as local legislation,

Westmoreland has heard from Coweta County school officials about legislation

to help lower school taxes for seniors, but has not heard any specific

requests from Fayette County yet.

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