ATLANTA – Major building projects from Valdosta to Athens are included in the $883.1 million bond package Gov. Brian Kemp is recommending to the General Assembly.
That’s lower than the $1.13 billion in bond financing lawmakers approved last June for the current fiscal year. But the amount is likely to go higher as members of the House and Senate add projects when the legislature gets its turn at Kemp’s $27.2 billion fiscal 2022 budget plan.
The most expensive project appropriation in the package is $90 million to continue the planned expansion of the Savannah Convention Center. Lawmakers earmarked $70 million last year for the first phase of the $210 million project.
Next on the list is $56.4 million to build a new headquarters for the Georgia Department of Public Safety in Atlanta. A portion of the money would go toward tearing down the existing building.
The bond package sets aside $124.9 million for K-12 school construction and renovation, $208.2 million for construction and renovation on University System of Georgia campuses and $84.3 million for building projects at the state’s technical colleges.
Highlights include $26.8 million to build an aviation training academy at the Chattahoochee Technical College campus in Paulding County, $26.3 million to renovate the humanities building at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton and $21.7 million for Phase I of the Poultry Science Center Complex at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Athens Technical College would receive $13.1 million to build an Industrial Systems Technology Building, $12.4 million is earmarked for construction of a performing arts center at Valdosta State University, and $12.2 million would go toward a convention center at Georgia Southern University.
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton is due to receive $11.8 million for facility improvements, and $7.6 million would be used to build a Nursing and Health Science Simulation Lab at Albany State University.
The state Department of Juvenile Justice would receive $13.7 million to add a 56-bed housing unit at the Muscogee Youth Development Campus, while the Augusta YDC would get $11.7 million for another 56-bed unit.
Members of the House and Senate appropriations committee will spend three days next week reviewing Kemp’s budget proposals.