The Senate on Wednesday finally passed House Bill 1302, which would allow single Georgians to receive a $250 rebate when they file their taxes, joint claimants $500. The refunds would go to those who filed returns for tax years 2020 and 2021, and the money would be available in six to eight weeks.
Kemp — who faces both Republican and Democratic challengers for re-election this year — has been able to call for big increases in spending on salaries, education and healthcare as tax collections for the first eight months of fiscal 2022 are up 16% year over year.
Typically, the half-year budget is used to fund growth in school enrollment and increased costs for Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor, disabled, and long-term care.
But after ending fiscal 2021 in surplus of $3.7 billion — in part due to massive federal COVID-19 relief funding — and now enjoying eight months of sustained revenue growth, the state has plenty of money to spend.
“This is a good budget, one that strategically invests in priorities for a growing, thriving state while returning more than $1 billion to Georgia taxpayers,” House Speaker David Ralston told R-Blue Ridge , at a budget signing ceremony in the Capitol.
The semi-annual plan provides more than $500 million to provide a $5,000 pay rise to approximately 100,000 employees in Georgia’s state and university system. State officials hope pay rises will help stem the high turnover rate among state employees, many of whom have seen little or no pay rises in recent years.
The measure will raise $7,000 for officers working at Justice Department and Juvenile Justice Department facilities that have had high turnover rates for years. Some agencies have annual turnover rates in excess of 25% due in part to low pay. In the state juvenile justice department it’s closer to 90%.
Full-time and part-time k-12 employees — such as teachers and staff — receive a $2,000 bonus. The teachers will receive a $2,000 raise in fiscal year 2023, allowing Kemp to fulfill his 2018 campaign promise to give them a $5,000 raise over the course of his first term.
The spending plan provides approximately $390 million to restore spending cuts for K-12 schools approved by lawmakers in 2020, when cuts were made in anticipation that the COVID-19 pandemic would bring a severe recession. Other agencies will also see the money cuts being restored to their budgets during the 2020 session.
The mid-year plan includes big increases for Medicaid, the health program for the poor and disabled and nursing homes that have been hit hard by the pandemic, as well as law enforcement.
The budget includes $432 million to kick-start a plan to purchase a private prison and build a new one. The idea is that the new roost would replace more dilapidated and dangerous facilities.
The mid-year spending plan includes $112.6 million to purchase and develop land for Rivian’s new electric vehicle manufacturing facility east of Atlanta.
Lt. gov. Geoff Duncan, who also attended the budget signing ceremony, said: “It’s easy to tell the priorities of a legislature and a governor by the way they budget, and this revised budget is certainly no exception. These investments are only possible because of strong conservative leadership.”
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