Georgia

Since the Georgia constitution forbids the state to spend more than it takes in from all sources, the governor attempts to reconcile the budget requests of the state department heads with the revenue predicted by economists for the coming fiscal year. The governor's Office of Planning and Budget prepares the budget, which is then presented to the general assembly at the beginning of each year's session. The assembly may decide to change the revenue estimate, but it usually goes along with the governor's forecast. The fiscal year begins on 1 July, and the first question for the assembly when it convenes the following January is whether to raise or lower the current year's budget estimate. If the revenues are better than expected, the legislators enact a supplemental budget; if the income is below expectations, cuts can be made.

Revenue for 2001 was forecast at $13.4 billion, but in fact reached $15.3 billion. Expenditures of $15.4 billion from appropriations of $14.4 billion left the state with an ending balance of $2.6 billion, which allowed the legislature to increase the funding in the Revenue Shortfall Reserve (Georgia's rainy day fund). In fiscal 2002, revenue shortfalls led the legislature to cut $783 million from the budget after it was enacted and mandate across-the-board cuts for government agencies of about 2.5%. In 2003, $482.1 million was cut from the budget after it was enacted mainly through a 5% across–the-board cut which exempted only direct instruction, which was required to make only 2% reductions. Drawings from the rainy day fund were made in both fiscal years. Effective fiscal 2004 (1 July 2003), the state increased its taxes on tobacco products and on alcoholic beverages and wine. Appropriations of state funds for 2004 totaled $16.17 billion, including $15.3 billion of general funds, $692 million of lottery funds (allocated to school readiness and student finance programs) and $175 million in tobacco settlement funds (allocated mainly to health programs). The largest appropriations from the General Fund were $5.93 billion for the State Board of Education, $1.6 billion for the Department of Community Health, $1.46 billion for the Board of Regents of the university system, $1.38 billion for the Department of Human Resources, $789 million for general obligation bonds, and $689 million for the Department of Transportation.

The following table from the US Census Bureau contains information on revenues, expenditures, indebtedness, and cash/securities for 2001.