Budget and audited financials for the county seat of Fayette County — about 21 miles south of
Atlanta and the county seat since 1823. The city runs on an unusual fiscal year,
August 1 – July 31, with budgets adopted by Council on or before July 31.
Form of government
Council/Manager — Mayor and five Council members elected at large; Council appoints the City Manager
Services
Police, fire, courts, streets & drainage, planning and zoning, water, sewer, and storm water
Independent auditor
Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC
Recognition
GFOA Certificate of Achievement for the FY2024 ACFR (29th consecutive year) and Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the FY2025 budget (19th consecutive year)
General Fund budget
$36,997,919
FY2027 · Adopted
Balanced — revenues equal expenditures.
All-funds budget · 16 funds
$139,448,947
FY2027 · Adopted
Including multi-year SPLOST program totals carried in the adopted budget.
All 16 funds in the FY2027 adopted budget. Each fund is balanced — revenue totals equal expense totals. The all-funds total includes multi-year SPLOST program totals carried in the adopted budget (see Notes).
General Fund
Confiscated Assets Fund
Hotel Motel Tax Fund
Vehicle Rental Excise Tax Fund
SPLOST 2023
Capital Projects Fund
Impact Fee Fund
SPLOST Fund 2
TAD (Tax Allocation District)
Water and Sewer Fund
Solid Waste Fund
Downtown Development Authority
Mainstreet Tourism Fund
Fayette County Veterans Memorial
Self-Funded Insurance Plan
Cemetery Perpetual Fund
Total — all funds (FY2027, Adopted; including multi-year SPLOST program totals carried in the adopted budget)$139,448,947
FY2025 General Fund actual expenditures by function
Audited actuals for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2025. Public safety — police and fire — is just over half of General Fund spending.
General government
Judicial (Municipal court)
Public safety
Public works
Culture and recreation
Housing and development
Debt service
Debt service of $1,576,576 is principal of $475,000 plus interest of $1,101,576. The General Fund balance grew by +$2,702,503 in FY2025, from a beginning balance of $27,665,281 to an ending balance of $30,367,784.
Total General Fund actual expenditures (FY2025, Audited actuals)$27,368,568
From the FY2026 Budget Book (adopted by Ordinance No. 25-O-15 on July 17, 2025). The all-funds total of $120,985,185 includes multi-year SPLOST program totals carried in the adopted budget. Only this revenue table is shown for FY2026 — see Notes on the two official FY2026 totals.
Taxes
Licenses & Permits
Intergovernmental
Charges for Services
Fines & Forfeitures
Investment Income
Contributions & Donations
Miscellaneous
Other Financing Sources
Total all-funds revenues (FY2026, Adopted; including multi-year SPLOST program totals carried in the adopted budget)$120,985,185
Multi-year SPLOST totals. The adopted worksheets carry full multi-year SPLOST program amounts — the SPLOST 2023 fund budgets the full $40,380,000 voter-approved program total, estimated collections through 2029, in each year's worksheet. All-funds totals on this page therefore include multi-year SPLOST program totals and are labeled as such; the General Fund and Water and Sewer Fund are the clean single-year operating figures.
Two official FY2026 totals. Two official FY2026 documents give different all-funds totals — the adopted worksheet's $95,975,313 vs. the Budget Book's $120,985,185 — differing by exactly $25,009,872, the SPLOST 2017 multi-year budget the worksheet omits (SPLOST 2017 concluded in FY2023). The General Fund agrees in both documents at $29,450,081. This page never blends the two documents' totals.
FY2027 document type. The FY2027 adopted document is a Budget Worksheet Report, not a narrative budget book; it contains no budget message or millage statement, so the millage rate shown on this page is FY2026.
Ordinance 25-O-15. The FY2026 adopting ordinance (25-O-15) preamble contains copy-over date errors — it recites FY2024-25 dates. Its Section 1 and adoption date (July 17, 2025) establish the FY2026 amounts.
FY2025 charges for services. FY2025 audited charges for services fell sharply (governmental activities $21.9M in FY2024 to $8.0M in FY2025) because a state-law change altered how building-permit costs and fees are calculated, which also reduced fees paid to the city's private inspection provider — a fee-structure change, not a service cut (ACFR MD&A).
Two property-tax figures. Government-wide property taxes ($12,149,335, FY2025) cover all governmental funds; General Fund property taxes alone were $9,568,805. The two are not interchangeable.