Georgia
Georgia state tax collections finish more than $2 billion ahead of projections, buoying surplus
(AP) – Georgia’s tax collections ran more than $2 billion ahead of projections for the budget year that ended June 30, even though tax revenues fell slightly.
That means even though Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and lawmakers decided earlier this year to spend part of the state’s surplus, that cash cushion will be larger than expected when the state closes the books on the 2024 budget year in coming months. It was last estimated at $10.7 billion.
It also means that Kemp’s administration for the fourth year significantly underestimated how much Georgia would collect in taxes, meaning money is held in surplus instead of being used to boost spending on government services or cut taxes.
The governor by law sets a ceiling on how much lawmakers can spend.
Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Kemp, said the surplus over projections is likely to be around $2.2 billion, according to a “very preliminary estimate.” However, surprises can appear as accountants finalize the state’s year-end financial returns. Some taxes collected by other agencies besides the state Department of Revenue weren’t available Friday.
Overall collections fell 0.5% the 2023 budget year, which suggests Georgia’s economy may be cooling. Income tax collections, the state’s largest source of revenue, were down more than 5%, although some of that decrease is likely due to income tax cuts that began on Jan. 1.
Sales taxes were flat, suggesting Georgians bought fewer goods last year after accounting for inflation.
But because the state collected a full year of taxes on gasoline and diesel taxes after Kemp waived the tax for part of the previous budget year, that nearly made up the income tax decrease.
Collections of taxes, interests and fees by the Department of Revenue, although they fell slightly, were $2.6 billion ahead of the latest Kemp administration projections published in January. All of the major taxes finished ahead of projections, meaning taxes fell much less than planned for.
The end-of-year accounting was boosted by a surge in June tax collections, especially from often-volatile corporate income taxes.
The overall surplus, which had been $10.7 billion at the beginning of the year, will still fall because Kemp and lawmakers boosted spending for 2024 to $38 billion with onetime outlays to pay for $1,000 bonuses to state employees and teachers, boost roadbuilding, and to build a new legislative office building and overhaul the state Capitol.
Beyond the surplus cash, Georgia also has another $5.4 billion in a rainy day fund.
It’s the fourth year of huge surpluses, after $3.7 billion in 2021, $6.4 billion in 2022, and $5.3 billion in 2023.
Critics have suggested Republicans are purposefully holding down spending while refusing to fully expand Medicaid health insurance to poorer adults.
However, the budget that began July 1 addresses some criticisms. It boosts pay for public school teachers and state employees, while spending more on education, health care and mental health. Public school and prekindergarten teachers got a $2,500 raise starting July 1. State and university employees got a 4% pay increase.
However, if state tax collections continue falling next year, those spending targets could get harder to maintain. Kemp and Republican lawmakers have said they don’t want to dip into the surplus to pay for ongoing expenses.
Georgia’s budget pays to educate 1.75 million K-12 students and 450,000 college students, house 51,000 state prisoners, pave 18,000 miles (29,000 kilometers) of highways and care for more than 200,000 people who are mentally ill, developmentally disabled, or addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Georgia
Two freshman Georgia football players arrested on shoplifting charges
Georgia offensive lineman Dontrell Glover and running back Bo Walker were arrested for shoplifting at a Walmart on Friday, less than a week after the Bulldogs won the SEC Championship.
According to the Athens Banner-Herald, the freshmen were booked into Clarke County jail in Athens on two counts of misdemeanor shoplifting. Glover and Walker were arrested Friday evening and released on $1,526 bond before 8 p.m.
“We were informed of the charges and are currently in the process of gathering additional information,” Georgia spokesman Steve Drummond said in a statement. “This is a pending legal matter and we will not have further comment at this time.”
Walker played six games this season and rushed for 100 yards and three touchdowns. Glover started 11 games in 2025 and was named to the All-SEC freshman team.
Advertisement
Last month, offensive lineman Nyier Daniels was dismissed from the team by head coach Kirby Smart after he was arrested on more than a dozen criminal charges after he allegedly tried to flee from police north of Athens.
The Bulldogs beat Alabama last Saturday in the SEC title game and earned a place in the College Football Playoff. They will play again on Jan. 1 against the winner of Ole Miss-Tulane in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
Georgia
DOJ files suit to obtain 2020 election records in Fulton County, Georgia
The Justice Department sued Fulton County, Georgia, this week in an effort to obtain more than five-year-old ballots tied to the 2020 presidential election which President Donald Trump lost.
The eight-page complaint filed in federal court in Atlanta on Thursday, names Fulton County Clerk of Courts Che Alexander as a defendant, alleging that the clerk violated the Civil Rights Act by failing to produce records tied to the 2020 presidential election as requested by state and federal officials.
The lawsuit asks that the court demand that the records be produced within five days of a court order.
According to the lawsuit, the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections last month refused to comply with an Oct. 6 subpoena, from the state’s election board, for election records, including used and void ballots, stubs, and signature envelopes from the 2020 presidential election, saying in a Nov. 14 letter that the records were “under seal” in accord with state law.
The lawsuit states that the board later failed to respond to a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi on Oct. 30, demanding the records which she said were needed to review the state’s compliance with federal election laws and meet state transparency efforts.
Alexander and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday night.
Alexander had previously said in an Oct. 21 letter to the state election board that “the records sought are under seal and may not be produced absent a Court Order,” according to the lawsuit.
Trump was indicted on felony charges in Fulton County in August 2023 along with 18 other co-defendants in connection with efforts to overturn his election loss.
Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that were dropped last month by a prosecutor who took the reins of the case following Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ disqualification from prosecuting Trump in the matter.
Georgia has long been a sore spot for Trump after a narrow loss in 2020 that he has spent years disputing.
After a manual recount of election results in Georgia that reaffirmed President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state in 2020, Trump, who was then seeking a second term, had also called then-Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and implored him to “find” the votes needed to defeat Biden in the 2020 election. Since then he has continued to falsely claim he won the state.
The Fulton County lawsuit from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division comes as it announced on Friday that it had filed federal lawsuits against four states — Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada — alleging that the states had violated the Constitution by failing to produce statewide voter registration lists upon request.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement Friday that states “have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution.”
“At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws. If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will,” Dhillon said.
Georgia
Georgia’s Utility Regulator Rushes Deal for Georgia Power Before Public Hearing – CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.
ATLANTA, Georgia — An hour before hearing testimony from the public and advocacy groups, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) posted a settlement agreement approving Georgia Power’s plan to build the most expensive gas plants in the country, leaving Georgians to foot the bill.
The settlement, which the PSC is expected to vote on during its Dec. 19 meeting, approves Georgia Power’s “Requests for Proposals,” or RFP, despite clear warnings from the Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and PSC’s own staff that Georgia Power’s plan hinges on a data center bubble. The utility’s proposal is expected to cost at least $15 billion in capital costs, though the total costs have yet to be publicly disclosed. The proposed settlement would dramatically increase Georgian’s energy bills for years to come for data centers that might not even be built. Several counties in Georgia have already passed moratoriums on data centers, awaiting more insight into their potential impact on local communities.
“This proposed settlement is the largest single investment in electric infrastructure in the state’s history. It calls for building the most expensive gas plants in the country and will result in higher prices for consumers and more pollution in our communities. It will cause temperatures to go up, more frequent and more powerful storms, and deadlier floods and heatwaves,” said Dekalb County resident Lisa Coronado during the Dec. 10 hearing. “But Georgia Power doesn’t care about any of that. When the temperatures go up, Georgia Power makes more money because Georgians run their air conditioning more often. When climate-change fueled storms wreck our infrastructure, Georgia Power passes repair costs onto us.”
The settlement includes promises of “downward pressure” for ratepayers’ bills, but Georgia Power’s claim that typical ratepayers will eventually see a reduction of $8.50 per month is short-sighted. First, Georgia Power has made similar promises in the past and continued to raise rates. Second, the proposed rate decrease would only cover three years, whereas ratepayers will have to pay for gas plants for 45 years.
In response, the Sierra Club released the following statement:
“The PSC’s own expert staff said Georgia building gas plants was not in the best interest of ratepayers,” said Adrien Webber, Sierra Club Georgia Chapter Director. “At a time when the PSC should be fighting for affordability for Georgians, they instead push through a plan that will continue to squeeze Georgia families already struggling to make ends meet. As we consider our next steps, it’s clear that the people of Georgia demand change from our PSC and the Sierra Club will continue to fight to make that change happen.
“‘Georgia Power’s agreement is still based on the idea that data center projects are coming, which is not guaranteed,” Webber continued. “The PSC’s own staff saw Georgia Power’s plan as overbuilding for projects that may or may not appear, threatening to leave the cost for ratepayers to pick up. It’s infuriating that Georgia Power and the PSC refuse to even take public comment or insight from advocates into consideration before coming to this agreement. Filing this agreement just an hour before the second round of hearings shows that the PSC refuses to be held accountable to the people of Georgia.”
About the Sierra Club: The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
Sign up for CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
-
Alaska1 week agoHowling Mat-Su winds leave thousands without power
-
Texas1 week agoTexas Tech football vs BYU live updates, start time, TV channel for Big 12 title
-
Ohio1 week ago
Who do the Ohio State Buckeyes hire as the next offensive coordinator?
-
Washington4 days agoLIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
-
Iowa6 days agoMatt Campbell reportedly bringing longtime Iowa State staffer to Penn State as 1st hire
-
Miami, FL6 days agoUrban Meyer, Brady Quinn get in heated exchange during Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami CFP discussion
-
Cleveland, OH6 days agoMan shot, killed at downtown Cleveland nightclub: EMS
-
World6 days ago
Chiefs’ offensive line woes deepen as Wanya Morris exits with knee injury against Texans