Fayette County legislators gave five "yes" votes and three votes of "no" on three key issues in the 1999 session of the General Assembly.

The $13.3 billion FY 2000 state budget. Sen. Greg Hecht and Reps. Kathy Cox and Lynn Westmoreland voted in favor; Sen. Rick Price voted "no," saying some needed health care items were cut from the budget. Price also objected to bonded indebtedness in the supplemental 1999 budget. "It was just unacceptable," he said.

A property tax cut. All four local legislators voted in favor of a bill exempting the first $50,000 of a home's value from property taxes. "How could you not?" said Price.

Regional transportation authority. Price voted in favor of the Senate version of a bill creating a super agency designed to reduce Atlanta's air quality problems by overseeing transportation projects, but he voted "no" on the final version, as did Westmoreland. "It was the most sweeping usurping of power since welfare reform," said Price. "It's federal bureaucrats taking away local authority and local power."