Bulloch County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve budget amendments for FY 2024, which ended June 30, 2024.
The budget year, which began July 1, 2023, concluded three months ago, but under Georgia law, local governments must make adjustments at the end of the fiscal year to balance the budget and include numbers which reflect actual expenditures and revenues.
Tuesday’s line item was part of the commissioner’s consent agenda, meaning there was no discussion of it by commissioners. The more than three dozen adjustments were recommended for approval by staff.
Highlights from the budget adjustment report provided in the commissioner’s packet:
- $3,963,821 – the total General Fund expenditure overages beyond the FY 2024 budgeted amount
- $3,384,448 – the total amount of overages which were offset by underspending in other departments
- $349,539 – revenue overages from new lease & IT agreements under GASB 87 & 96 which will offset expenditure overages
- $579,373 – remaining gap in General Fund expenditures from FY 2024 budget to be paid for by fund balance
- The document lists ‘prior fund balance’ usage approved from a previous year, not additional fund balance money that must be pulled.
From the county report:
“The adjustment will increase the total approved budget of the fund by $928,912, chiefly because of over-expenditures in the public safety function. Despite the over-expenditures in this area, numerous other departments did not fully expend their budgets this fiscal year and which helped offset the departments that overspent their budgets so that the fund still performed better than expected.”
The county noted $1,008,857 in unbudgeted workers compensation expenditures, citing ‘high cost of claims.’ Notably, and on at least half of the departmental notes, the adjustment includes increases in health insurance and increases the revenue budget by $779,502 for additional employer premiums paid into the fund during the year. Overtime and ‘vacation cashout’ topped the list of departmental overages as well.
Sheriff’s Office Overages
| Overage from Budgeted Amount | Budgeted Amount in FY 2024 | Division | Reason Listed |
| $781,614 | Not listed* | personnel, maintenance, utilities, supplies, vehicles | |
| $65,606 | $724,919 | CID | OT, health ins, vacation cashout |
| $564,834 | $3,895,278 | Field Operations | health ins, vacation cashout, OT |
| $877,271 | $7,447,050 | Jail Operations | OT, health ins, vacation cashout, inmate medical, building maintenance |
| $253,271 | $1,250,820 | Court Services | OT, health ins, vacation cashout |
| $2,542,596 TOTAL |
Other Departments Over Budget
The complete list of overages is below this chart. The Georgia Virtue.com has filed an Open Records Request for departments which were under budget.
| Overage from Budgeted Amount | Budgeted Amount in FY 2024 | Department | Reason Listed |
| $551,731 | $2,480,447 | Solid Waste Collection | health ins, vacation cashout, tippage fees, equipment |
| $250,359 | $1,260,645 | Afterschool Program (falls under Community Recreation on county budget website) | health ins, supplies |
| $248,640 | $4,523,246 | EMS | OT. vacation cashout |
| $208,360 | $1,258,886 | General Gov’t Buildings | Increase expenditure budget – accounting under GASB 87 / 96 |
| $95,426 | $583,126 | County Manager | health ins, vacation cashout, professional services |
| $74,791 | $490,577 | Elections | health ins, vacation cashout, equipment maint from |
