I wrote about taxpayer funded golf courses around this time last year. My issue was that taxpayers should not be subsidizing golf course and I urged privatization. Well, given the current budget crisis here in Georga, one of the worst in the country with a $1.8 billion deficit, legislators are looking to cut the support:

Two weeks ago, at a budget hearing, senators questioned whether the state could continue to pay for the money-losing golf courses it runs. Most of the courses are in rural parts of the state and are near and dear to small-town lawmakers.

The Department of Natural Resources is talking about closing a seldom-used course in the far southeast Georgia town of Fargo, and letting private companies bid to run most or all of the rest of the state-owned courses.

“We would be severely criticized, when we’re cutting Medicaid and education, if we keep these golf courses afloat when they are losing money,” said Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus), former long-time chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

On Monday it was state-subsidized halls of fame (Music, Sports and Golf) that got the treatment from senators, according to my AJC colleague James Salzer, who was there.

“I don’t know why we continue to give taxpayer dollars to these halls of fame,” said Senate Majority Whip Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), during a budget hearing. “We ought to put them on notice that on Jan. 1, we aren’t going to have the money to given them operating funds.”

The halls for music and sports, located in Macon, have long been the pride of middle Georgia lawmakers, while the Golf Hall of Fame was brought to life by Augusta’s legislative delegation. For years, the legislators from those two areas were among the most powerful in the state, and the halls have always been heavily subsidized by taxpayers.

It's not a matter of principle, that taxpayers dollars shouldn't fund something that should be handled by the private sector. They just can't justify it when they are cutting "basic services."

At least they'll cut them out of the budget. Let's hope they don't magically appear again when the economy recovers.