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.