SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Republican Governor Brian Kemp has officially signed off on Georgia’s plan for how it will spend tens of billions of dollars in the next year.

Governor Kemp is looking forward to the more than $73 billion the state will spend next year and also looking back at what stood out to him from 2025 - specifically focusing on Hurricane Helene relief.

“Obviously we were very focused on the response to the response to the really incredibly large storm that we had, Hurricane Helene,” said the Governor.

He says they spent more than a billion dollars on relief efforts across the state, including about $6 million dollars in one-time grants around Savannah.

As we move into next year, there are four non storm related projects the Governor mentioned around the Coastal Empire.

That includes:

• One-time funding to renovate the department of driver services in Rincon.
• The expansion of the Gang Prosecution Unit to Savannah.
• Almost three quarters of a million dollars to expand the Department of Public Health home visit program for expecting moms.
• An increase in funding for the perinatal regional center at Memorial Health.

Local Savannah leaders pointing out another investment on the way as well.

We caught up with Representative Anne Allen Westbrook of the 163rd district.

“There are really significant investments in water infrastructure. We know that our region is growing by leaps and bounds and so our water infrastructure needs to keep up with that growth.”

Allen Westbrook - who is a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives - is talking about nearly $502 million from the 2025 budget that is set to increase the availability of water across the Coastal Empire over the next five years.

That funding for water projects was the main focus for leaders of Savannah and Chatham County when they traveled to Atlanta earlier this year.

READ: Savannah-Chatham Day at the state capitol

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