Healthy surplus, long list of needs driving Georgia state budget

ATLANTA – With tax relief, disaster assistance, infrastructure investments and prison upgrades on his agenda, Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday proposed major budget increases, particularly in the spending plan covering the rest of this fiscal year.

Kemp’s $40.5 billion fiscal 2025 mid-year budget, $4.4 billion above the spending plan the General Assembly adopted last spring, dips into the state’s healthy surplus to bankroll a $1 billion one-time tax rebate, $615 million storm recovery package for victims of Hurricane Helene, and $1.7 billion for transportation and water projects.

A $603 million allocation for improvements to Georgia’s prison system is spread out over both the mid-year budget and the governor’s more modest $37.7 billion fiscal 2026 spending plan. The 2026 budget, which takes effect July 1, also includes most of the funding for a $1 billion rollback of the state’s income tax rate from 5.39% to 5.19%.

State of the state:Kemp tells General Assembly he expects tort reform; “no room for excuses, half-measures, or failure.”

“At the end of the day, that’s your money – not the government’s,” Kemp said Thursday during his annual State of the State address to a joint session of the Georgia House and Senate. “We believe you should keep more of it.”

Kemp first responded to Hurricane Helene by repurposing $100 million to the Georgia Development Authority last November to provide direct financial support for farmers and timber producers who suffered losses from the massive storm.

The $615 million relief package the governor requested Thursday includes $200 million to cover cleanup costs already incurred by the Georgia Department of Transportation, $150 million to help both the state and local governments match federal disaster assistance, $100 million to the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission to offset the agency’s disaster relief costs, $50 million to the state Department of Administrative Services to cover storm-related damage to state properties, and $15.7 million for the Georgia Forestry Commission.

The $1.7 billion infrastructure package includes $530 million for the DOT for highway projects critical to statewide economic development and $250 million in grants to local governments for road projects.

Another $502 million would be used to build surface water-supply projects in Coastal Georgia as an alternative to dipping into environmentally fragile groundwater to supply the huge Hyundai electric-vehicle manufacturing plant now under construction west of Savannah. A new water intake on the Savannah River is expected to deliver 20 million gallons a day by 2030.

Another $250 million would go to support water and sewer projects across the state through low-interest loans to local communities.

The prison package follows release of a Justice Department audit last fall that accused the Georgia prison system of violating inmates’ constitutional rights by failing to protect them from widespread violence. It includes 4% pay raises for correctional officers, 8% increases for mental health professionals working in state prisons, and funds to hire an additional 330 guards.

Another $371.7 million in the mid-year budget and $68.2 million in the fiscal 2026 spending plan would go toward infrastructure upgrades, while $97 million would be used to improve inmate health care.

The two budgets also fully fund Georgia’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula for students in grades K-12, something the state has only been able to do in recent years after building up a $16 billion surplus.

Source link

Healthy surplus, long list of needs driving Georgia state budget

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Can The Dollar Survive Trump 2.0? It’s Asia’s $3 Trillion Question

Hedge funds fight over one of Europe’s largest lingerie brands

Fulcrum Lending CEO Maxwell Wu Sees the Future of Multifamily Finance as a Partnership between Community Banks, Technology and Private Credit.

European utility-scale battery installations ‘ramping up’ as solar cannibalization bites, Rystad finds – pv magazine International

Monthly Popular

Dollar eases as market shrugs off inflation revision data

Thousands of Utahns could potentially lose access to internet as funds for program set to expire

Most Asian currencies, stocks slip on Fed rate cut uncertainty

Pepe Coin Holders Add Mpeppe Coin To Investments As Euros Near

Popular Updates

Shareholders turn to lawsuits over soured investments in UK companies

Stocks Drop as ‘Not Great’ CPI Whipsaws Treasuries: Markets Wrap

London open: Stocks gain ahead of US CPI; GSK surges on Zantac settlement

Power industry calls for long-term plans and tariff flexibility to finance grid expansion – Euractiv

Weekly popular

Investment Property Mortgage Rates 2025: What to Expect

4 Best Investment Apps for Beginners of 2025

Asia-Pacific markets rise as Hong Kong tech stocks rally; Baidu shares pop 12% – NBC10 Philadelphia

Meta’s AI Investments, Llama Expansion, Ad Tech Growth Earn Analyst Conviction – Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Healthy surplus, long list of needs driving Georgia state budget

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You Might Also Like

Monthly Popular

Popular Updates

Weekly popular