Georgia has accrued nearly $11 billion in cash reserves, invested the maximum legal amount into its rainy day fund, and tucked more than $2 billion into its lottery reserve fund, according to a government report published Monday.
The State Accounting Office published its report for the budget year ending in June 2023 this week, revealing the state has just over $10.7 billion cash on hand. Georgia also boasts almost $5.4 billion in its rainy day fund, which is at its constitutional limit, and $2.1 billion in its lottery reserve fund.
Georgia’s surplus comes despite the state spending $32.6 billion over the year, which Fox 5 Atlanta explained represents a 3 percent increase. The outlet attributed the surplus to efforts by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) to tie spending to the prior year’s revenue and strong tax revenues received by the state.
The state’s surplus money can be appropriated for any purpose, including for another special tax refund for Georgians.
In 2022, state lawmakers passed HB 162, which authorized about $1 billion in “surplus tax refund checks” for Georgia taxpayers who filed and paid their state taxes in the past two years. Single taxpayers received $250, while joint filers received $500, and heads of households received $375.
The surplus also allowed Georgia to continue funding about $1 billion in road maintenance and construction after Kemp suspended the state’s gasoline tax to offer residents economic relief. The governor initially suspended the gas tax through October 12, stripping between $0.31 and $0.35 off the cost per gallon of gasoline paid by consumers. Kemp extended the suspension on October 6, and Georgia taxpayers are currently scheduled to save at the pump until November 11.
Tax income recorded by Georgia has reportedly cooled since June, however, with Kemp’s office warning that September revenues were down 3.2 percent, or about $100 million, compared to the same period last year. The drop began after the gas tax suspension commenced, but the governor’s office also noted a 10.5 percent decrease in individual income tax collections.
Last week, Kemp ostensibly used part of the surplus to purchase $10 million in Israeli bonds to support the country’s defensive war against Hamas. This militant Islamic terrorist group unleashed a devastating attack against Israel on October 7. The governor noted that his administration has “purchased an aggregate of $50 million” in Israeli bonds, “with half of the bonds” having matured during his time in office.
Georgia anticipates spending $32.4 billion in the 2024 budget Kemp signed in May. The governor promised the budget “places our state on strong financial footing” while “keeping us on the road to economic growth even while policies coming out of Washington, D.C. push the country closer to a recession.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
