State agencies will get to ask for more money next year for the first time since fiscal 2020.

Rick Dunn, director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, informed state agency heads in a memo Wednesday that they will be allowed to request spending “enhancements” of up to 3% in their fiscal 2024 mid-year and fiscal 2025 budget proposals.

While Republican state lawmakers have praised Kemp for conservative budgeting practices during the last three years, Democrats and advocates for low-income Georgians have criticized the governor for using a growing budget surplus to push state income tax rebates and reductions in the tax rate through the GOP-controlled General Assembly.

Agency budget submissions to the OPB are due Sept. 8. Kemp will present his spending recommendations to the General Assembly in January.