Georgia’s budget reserves swell to record $2.05 billion
Gov. Nathan Deal’s goal of leaving his successor flush with $2 billion in the state’s savings account is way ahead of schedule, thanks to a strong economy and relatively tight spending plans.
A fiscal 2016 end-of-the-year report shows the state’s preliminary shortfall reserves at a record $2.05 billion. That’s up about 43 percent from the end of 2015.
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Reserves will drop a bit early next year when the state doles out money to fund increases in k-12 school enrollment, but it still marks a milestone for a governor determined to leave the state in much better financial shape when he retires in 2019 than it was when he took office after the Great Recession.
“It’s not politically very exciting,” said Kelly McCutchen, the president of the conservative Georgia Public Policy Foundation. “It’s like maintenance. If any Republican is in a tight race this fall, they are not going to run ads on the fact that there is a $2 billion state reserve. But it’s good fiscal management.”
Read more: http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/georgias-budget-reserves-swell-to-record-205-billi/nsTTs/
