General Assembly OKs property tax cut as part of midyear budget

Georgia property owners will be able to pocket, on average, about $500 through a tax cut in the midyear budget that the General Assembly approved this past week.

That boost to homeowners’ wallets would come through an extra one-time exemption on the value of their homes at tax time. The cost to the state will be about $950 million.

That money would be in addition to a separate $1 billion income tax rebate that would pay $250 to single filers and $500 to married couples who file jointly. That legislation has already cleared the House and moved forward in the Senate this past week.

The $32.5 billion midyear budget covers a lot of territory, including the restoration of about $1.1 billion in funding to the Georgia Department of Transportation that was lost when the state suspended its motor fuel tax to give drivers a break from high gas prices.

The budget, which runs through June 30, also calls for $500 bonuses for 54,000 state government pensioners. That follows last year’s cost-of-living increase for those pensioners, the first one they had received in more than a decade.

Lawmakers also set aside $166.7 million to help fund large economic development projects in the state, including new Rivian and Hyundai car plants.

And they included money for $50,000 safety grants in each school, money to help students who may have fallen behind academically during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more money in dozens of other areas, such as health care, rural workforce housing development, prisons and public safety.

Work also continues on the budget proposal for fiscal 2024 — which begins July 1. A measure advanced in the House this past week that would provide raises of $4,000 to law enforcement officers and $2,000 for other state employees, University System of Georgia workers and teachers.