Georgia Senate budget writers approved a $36.1 billion state budget Thursday with pay raises for state employees and public school teachers fueled by a bulging revenue surplus.
The spending plan, which takes effect July 1, would raise salaries for many state workers by $4,000, with additional raises of $3,000 for employees in state agencies plagued by high turnover rates. Teachers would get raises of $2,500.
The fiscal 2025 budget is $1.5 billion below the fiscal 2024 midyear spending plan lawmakers adopted late last month, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said before Thursday’s vote.
“We think hard times in Georgia may be coming,” he said. “We want to be realistic.”
The budget boosts spending on education programs including $204 million to buy new school buses and $108 million in grants for safety improvements on public school campuses. Tillery said the school safety grants will be built into the base budget so they become permanent.
Like the midyear budget, the fiscal 2025 spending plan would fund state building projects out of cash rather than bond financing. With the state sitting on a $16 billion budget surplus, the committee also set aside $63 million to accelerate paying off some of the state’s previous bond debt.
The budget now heads to the full Senate for a vote next week.
he Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a $36.1 billion fiscal 2025 state budget Thursday with generous raises for teachers and state employees made possible by a huge surplus.
“This is an awesome budget that addresses the needs of every Georgian from all walks of life,” House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said following the 172-1 vote.
The budget, which takes effect July 1, would increase state spending by $3.6 billion – or 11% – over the original fiscal 2024 spending plan the General Assembly adopted last spring.
It includes 4% pay raises for most state employees, with an additional $3,000 one-time increase for state law enforcement and correctional officers. Workers in state agencies suffering from high turnover also would receive additional targeted raises above the 4% salary hikes.
This story comes to Rough Draft via a media partnership with Capitol Beat.