Pay raises and higher education spending headline Gov. Brian Kemp's proposed budget in Georgia

After years of holding spending far below what Georgia was collecting in revenue, Gov. Brian Kemp is proposing a big boost in outlays.

In budgets released Thursday, the Republican governor proposes spending an additional $5 billion in the current budget running through June. In the 2025 budget beginning July 1, Kemp proposes increasing spending by $3.6 billion over this year’s original budget, including pay raises for more than 300,000 state employees and teachers that he outlined in his State of the State speech.

Georgia has $5.4 billion set aside in its rainy day fund, which is filled to its legal limit of 15% of state revenue. Beyond that, it has $10.7 billion in surplus cash collected over three years. Kemp proposes spending $2 billion of the surplus but would leave $8.7 billion.