Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) gave an upbeat Jan. 16 state-of-the-state speech before a Republican-controlled Legislature on the same day he released a $21.4 billion budget that would update the state’s water system and give homeowners a small tax cut.
Under the budget, Georgia – mired in a drought for the past two years – would allot $120 million to build reservoirs and water and sewer improvements.
Perdue also proposed to eliminate the portion of the property tax that goes to the state, decreasing each household’s tax by about $30. The move was a surprise because when his 2006 gubernatorial opponent, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor (D), suggested the same thing, Perdue’s camp dismissed the plan.
The governor’s budget also includes money to increase the number of state troopers, help local governments finish their transportation projects and improve the state’s trauma centers. Perdue proposed to partially fund the trauma centers with a bigger fine on “super speeders.”
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