Georgia

Georgia

Budget Cycle
Annual
  
Governor Submits Budget 
January (2nd week)

Fiscal Year Begins
July 1

Governor Signs Budget
May

Budget Links

FY2026 (proposed)
FY2025 (enacted)
FY2024 (enacted)
FY2023 (enacted)
FY2022 (enacted)
FY2021 (enacted)

Proposed Budget - Fiscal Year 2026

On January 16, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp released a $73.04 billion total funds budget proposal for fiscal 2026, a decrease of 2.6 percent from the amended fiscal 2025 budget. From state funds the budget proposes spending $37.7 billion, a decrease of 7.0 percent compared to the amended fiscal 2025 budget (which includes $2.7 billion in reserve funds for one-time, high priority investments). General fund appropriations total $32.5 billion in the fiscal 2026 proposed budget, a decrease of 8.4 percent from the amended fiscal 2025 budget and an increase of 3.4 percent from the original fiscal 2025 budget. State general fund receipts are projected at $35.9 billion in fiscal 2026, an increase of $160.6 million, or 0.5 percent, over the amended fiscal 2025 estimate, while total state treasury receipts are estimated at $37.7 billion, an increase of 0.7 percent from amended fiscal 2025. The Revenue Shortfall Reserve was $5.5 billion at the end of fiscal 2024, maintaining a “filled” status for the fourth consecutive year; current law provides that the reserve cannot exceed 15 percent of the previous fiscal year’s net revenue. Across state funds appropriated in the budget, the largest categories of spending are dedicated to Educated Georgia (52.6 percent), Healthy Georgia (23.2 percent), Safe Georgia (7.4 percent), and Mobile Georgia (7.1 percent). 


Proposed Budget Highlights 

The governor’s proposed budget continues to prioritize tax cuts, meeting the financial obligations of the state, and strategically investing funds to reduce future costs and build infrastructure for future growth. 

Tax Cuts

  • The budget and accompanying legislation will further reduce tax rates by an additional 20 basis points, down to 5.19 percent for the 2025 tax year and beyond, saving taxpayers an average of $745 million a year

Educated Georgia

  • Early care: 
    • Adds funds for year two of a four-year phase in to reduce Pre-K classroom size from 22 to 20 students
    • Provides funding to support 500 additional state funded slots in the Childcare and Parent Services program
    • Annualizes Childcare and Parent Services program reimbursement rates at the 60th percentile for providers and families 
  • K-12 schools: 
    • Increases funding to support enrollment growth and training and experience to recognize a 0.07 percent increase in enrollment
    • Provides funds for the state share of employer increases on certified educators who participate in the State Health Benefit Plan
    • Adds funds for growth in the State Commission Charter Schools Supplement.
    • Allocates additional funds for Sparsity Grant funds, including the addition of 93 eligible schools
    • Establishes the Promise Scholarship Program for eligible K-12 students.
  • Higher Education:
    • Adds funds for resident instruction at the University System of Georgia to reflect a 2.7 percent increase in credit hour enrollment and a 0.5 percent increase in square footage at institutions
    • Provides increased funds for technical education to reflect a 10.6 percent increase in credit hour enrollment and a 0.02 percent decrease in square footage at institutions
    • Allocates funds to the technical college system to support aviation, commercial truck driving, and nursing programs

Healthy Georgia

  • Provides funds to annualize funding for provider rate study recommendations, to annualize 100 slots, and to add 100 new slots for waiver programs at the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
  • Adds funds for 67 new forensic beds at three regional state hospitals while annualizing funding for community-based facilities that provide services to child and adolescent, forensic, and intellectually and developmentally disabled populations
  • Provides additional funds for Medicaid and PeachCare, including funds for new high-cost drugs and for 12 months of continuous eligibility for children under the age of 19
    • Includes additional support for pharmacy benefits for medications, including recently approved gene therapy treatments for sickle cell disease
  • Allocates funds to expand the maternal health home visiting program to additional counties and increase access to maternal fetal medicine in rural communities

Safe Georgia

  • Includes funds for the design and construction of a new Day Reporting Center and Field Office
  • Increases funding to add 330 correctional officer positions to improve staff to offender ratios
  • Provides funds to support multiple salary increases for critical positions and address salary compression at the Department of Corrections. This includes funds for a 4 percent salary increase for all correctional officer staff, funds to address salary compression in correctional officer positions, an 8 percent salary increase for behavioral health counselor positions, and a 4 percent salary increase for education, chaplain, food service, and maintenance positions
  • Allocates funds to add private prison beds at two adult institutions
  • Provides funds for two juvenile facility expansion projects

Other Priorities

  • Adds funds for supplemental payments for first responders diagnosed with occupational post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Increases funds for 75 new residency slots in primary care medicine
  • Provides funds for major renovations and improvements at State Parks and Department of Natural Resources facilities
  • Adds funds to ensure 400 Mbps of internet connectivity for all K-12 public schools statewide