Georgia General Assembly gives $32.5 billion mid-year budget final passage

ATLANTA - The General Assembly gave final passage Monday to a $32.5 billion mid-year budget with a slightly smaller property tax relief grant than Gov. Brian Kemp requested in January.

The mid-year budget, which covers state spending through June 30, includes $950 million in property tax relief, down from $1 billion the Georgia Senate approved last month. It also provides $1.1 billion to the state Department of Transportation to offset the loss in tax revenue the agency sustained last year when the governor temporarily suspended collection of the state sales tax on gasoline and other motor fuels.

After clearing the House 172-2 shortly before noon on Monday, the final version of the mid-year spending plan negotiated by legislative leaders passed the Senate 54-1.

Many major spending items Kemp recommended when he presented the mid-year budget in January remained intact as it made its way through the General Assembly.

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It fully funds Georgia’s Quality Basic Education k-12 student formula (QBE), at $12.4 billion the largest single expenditure in the budget. After years of falling short, the state has been able to put up full funding of the QBE for the last several years.

The mid-year spending plan also includes $128.2 million to accommodate student enrollment growth in Georgia public schools since last year.

Other major spending items include $166.7 million for large economic development projects funded through the state Department of Community Affairs, $26.7 million for a one-time $500 check for retired state employees and $105 million for a new electronic medical records system at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. The Senate had cut that appropriation to $50 million, but the conference committee restored Kemp’s original request.

The mid-year budget also accelerated the timetable for several University System of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia building projects from the fiscal 2024 budget to the mid-year budget.

Getting a jump-start on those projects acknowledges the likelihood of sluggish tax revenues later this year, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia.

“We put ourselves a leg up on managing a national [economic] slowdown on the horizon,” Tillery said.

The projects receiving accelerated funding included $19.9 million for planning and design of a robotics training center at Ogeechee Technical College in Statesboro.

The mid-year budget now goes to Kemp for his signature.