(The Center Square) – Georgia taxpayers will see another one-time refund this year through an amended fiscal year 2026 budget approved by the General Assembly and signed Tuesday by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Married taxpayers will receive up to $500, while single filers will receive up to $250. This is the fourth year taxpayers have received the refunds, which are funded by a $1.17 billion state surplus.
Homeowners will also see a property tax break of up to $500 each through a $850 million Homeowner Tax Relief Grant Program, bringing the total of tax refunds to $2 billion.
“I want to stress that while the document on that table amounts to a large sum … much of those funds are one-time spends and do not add long-term liabilities to the state that our children and grandchildren would have to pay back,” Kemp said at the bill signing. “In fact, Georgia now has the lowest debt-to-revenue ratio since the state began issuing bonds in the 1970s … and enough money in our rainy day fund to keep state government working for nearly three months without any additional funds.”
State employees, including educators, will receive a one-time $2,000 bonus.
The amended budget is full of firsts for the state.
Lawmakers allocated $325 million to the state’s first-ever need-based scholarship. The state’s first regional mental health hospital in almost 60 years is also included in the budget, with a price tag of $409 million.
Funding of $1.6 billion is also included for one of the state’s worst locations for traffic jams – I-75 in Henry County.
The General Assembly and the governor agreed to allocate $35 million for a natural gas infrastructure program to be overseen by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority.
The House Rural Development Committee heard from South Georgia leaders in November who said the natural gas shortage in their region was hampering development.
“If somebody else came right now and said, ‘I’d like to invest $130 million, I’d like to create 75 jobs and I need this much gas,’ I can’t say yes to that,” Matt Seale, CEO of the Douglas-Coffee County Chamber of Commerce, told the committee.
Lawmakers did not ignore ongoing needs. The Department of Corrections received $150 million for additional bed space and another $9.7 million for new correctional officers.
The budget also includes $8.9 million for Georgia’s timber industry through the Georgia Forestry Innovation Initiative. The industry was hit hard with the closure of three plants in South Georgia and Hurricane Helene, which swept through the state in September 2024.
