Georgia lawmakers don’t have as much money at their disposal as usual in a tight budget year to load up Gov. Brian Kemp’s bond package with tens of millions of dollars in additional construction projects.
But the state House of Representatives still found room in the $28.1 billion fiscal 2021 budget the chamber adopted Tuesday for a menu of projects around the state the governor didn’t request.
The list of House adds is highlighted by $10.2 million in bonds to finance a second phase of improvements to Stone Mountain’s Evergreen Conference Center and Resort. The General Assembly put up $12.5 million two years ago for renovations at both the conference center and the Stone Mountain Inn.
Another $3.5 million in the new budget would go toward renovating the campground at Stone Mountain Park.
As usual, the largest number of projects the House added to the budget would be built on Georgia’s public college and university campuses.
The University System of Georgia’s capital budget would be increased by $4.8 million in bonds for a dental hygiene teaching lab on Georgia State University’s Dunwoody campus, $2.5 million for the third phase of renovations to the University of Georgia’s Driftmier Engineering Center, $2.45 million to continue a multi-year renovation project at Augusta University’s Robert B. Greenblatt Library, and $2.4 million for renovations at the Dublin Center Library Building on the Middle Georgia State University campus in Dublin.
The House also added $3 million in bonds to pay for a Georgia College and Career Academies building to serve Appling, Bacon, Jeff Davis and Pierce counties and $2.95 million to finance a campground expansion on Jekyll Island.
To help pay for the projects House budget writers added, lawmakers also zeroed out $54.5 million in bond funding to replace the Georgia Department of Public Safety’s headquarters building in Atlanta. The House opted to delay the work until fiscal 2022.
The budget now moves to the Senate, which likely will add projects of its own to Kemp’s bond package.
Dave Williams writes for the Capitol Beat News Service
