Commissioners met Thursday evening for a special-called meeting to approve the FY 2026 budget. By law, the county must have an adopted budget by the start of the fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The budget accounts for an increase over FY 2025 due to increased expenditures as well as revenue shortfalls. Notably, commissioners and staff cited large increases for employee health insurance, inflation, unexpected natural disasters, and state mandates for budget increases that are expected to result in a partial rollback of the millage rate.
During public comment:
Kathy Todd read a statement about her time working in local government, her expertise in government finance, and her support of the county’s proposed budget.
No one else from the public signed up to speak.
Commissioner Nick Newkirk said he did not support the budget because the citizens of the county ‘voted for a change.’
“They wanted to lower their taxes so they wouldn’t continue to rise. They wanted a smaller, more efficient government. I believe we should have a budget that would have done some of that, but it’s going to take ‘out of the box’ thinking and it’s going to take people at the table to share that vision of Bulloch County. For those citizens of Bulloch County, I hear you and I’m fighting for you. You are the reason why I’m here tonight. I know why I was elected and I will not forget that.” He went on to say he emailed fellow commissioners about the budget last week, but did not receive any response. He then thanked CFO Kristi King for her assistance in answering his questions over the last several weeks as he worked to offer alternatives.
No other commissioners had comments.
Chairman David Bennett called for a motion, which was made by Commissioner Ray Mosley. It was seconded by Simmons. Newkirk then requested a roll call vote. Commissioners Toby Conner and Timmy Rushing opposed the roll call vote, but it was approved 4-2.
Commissioner Ray Davis then made a motion to amend the motion on the floor to result in a budget for a full millage rate rollback for FY 2026. In a vote, the motion made by Davis failed in a vote of 2-4, with Newkirk and Davis voting to amend the budget on the floor and Mosley, Simmons, Conner, and Rushing voting against the amendment. The amendment subsequently failed.
Davis then offered a second amendment to the motion on the floor to transfer $100,000 from the Bulloch County Development Authority to the District Attorney’s Office. A second was made by Newkirk. During discussion, Commissioner Toby Conner asked what the purpose was.
“We’ve been on this budget since March and now you’ve come up here with two different amendments. I mean, what’s, and I need to know another thing. Why are we picking out the district attorney out of all the other things we have going on in this county – internally and externally. What’s with the big deal of just robbing Peter to pay Paul?”
Davis said he met with the District Attorney and it was his personal opinion that the office is understaffed. “Our contribution is 47% of his budget,” Davis said.
Commissioner Anthony Simmons replied, “I think we already voted on the budget. I mean, why are we going through all of this?”
Chairman Bennett told Simmons that [Davis] could bring up any amendment that he would like.
With no further discussion, Bennett called for a vote on the amendment, which failed 2-4 with Mosley, Simmons, Conner, and Rushing voting against the amendment to the budget.
Davis asked acting county attorney George Rountree what would happen if the county did not have an approved budget by July 1. Rountree said commissioners would have to approve individual expenditures or have a continuing resolution until a budget could be finalized.
Returning to the motion on the floor on the actual FY 2026 budget, a roll call vote was taken.
Davis – Yes
Mosley – Yes
Simmons – Yes
Newkirk – No
Conner – Yes
Rushing – Yes
Commissioner Toby Conner said after the vote that his goal this year was to ‘maintain,’ noting that there are ‘good things in the pipeline’ for Bulloch County. “I think it’s going to pay off tremendously in the long run for every taxpayer in this county,” Conner said.
The meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.
FY 2026 budget
Maintain the services and expand others. There is no millage rate increase – the rate will remain at 11.35%, but because of the increase in the tax digest, it is still legally considered a tax increase and some people could pay more.
23 FT and 1 PT Positions projected to cost $1,501,643 in salaries and benefits annually, plus additional $920,900 for vehicles, equipment, uniforms, etc. (vehicles and some equipment will be purchased using SPLOST funds)
- 2% across the board wage increase and a 1% merit based increase
- 20 Full-time Public Safety employees
- 9 in Sheriff’s Office – School Resources Officers
- 4 are jail officers
- 1 patrol deputy
- 6 EMT/paramedics
- 2 Full-time public works employees
- Both are for solid waste
- 1 part-time judicial/courts positions
- Magistrate Court wants to hire another constable to serve warrants
- 1 Administrative Assistant for the Coroner to manage records and communications for the Office (Currently, the coroner’s office has no administrative support)
- Rural Fire Fund – 12 PT Positions projected to cost $33,195 annually plus additional $156,000 for uniforms and equipment
- A significant increase of approximately $3 million is needed to support the employee health insurance fund, due to increased cost for claims as well as lingering effects of past lag in paying of claims
- Maintains General Fund Contingency of $500,000, which will be funded as needed from Fund Balance
- This requires $2,485,763 from the fund balance to balance the budget
Alternative Budget
Full millage rollback to meet the Georgia Taxpayer Bill of Rights definition. In this case, the millage rate is rolled back to the amount where the county would not collect any more money than it did in 2024.
In response to concerns about a lacking ‘full rollback’ of the millage rate, it was suggested that various versions of the budget be presented so that the public could see impacts of different cuts.
An ‘Alternative Budget’ was presented during the June 18 budget hearing in a powerpoint presentation presented by Bennett. The plan included recommendations for cuts from Commissioner Nick Newkirk and Bennett to show the cuts “as deep as possible.” Newkirk said at the conclusion of the presentation that he was unaware that the suggested cuts would be presented in such a manner or merged with others.
This alternative budget included
- A 1% increase in pay for county employees (as opposed to 2%)
- An opportunity for a 0.5% performance-based pay increase for employees (as opposed to 1%)
- No new positions
- Makes cuts on “Education & Training, Travel, Dues, Professional Services, Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance, Rental Equipment, Inmate Meals, Small Equipment and other items for most Departments throughout the county”
- Cuts the Development Authority appropriation by 40% of the FY 2025 budget
- Cuts funds for the Library, which would have kept them at the same budget amount as FY 2025
- Leaves in places 30% increase for the District Attorney
On the revenue side:
- Revenue from the Board of Education was reduced to account for no new SRO hires
- Revenue from property tax collections was accounted for to roll the millage rate back entirely.
- Still requires a $2,063,512 deduction from the Fund Balance to balance the budget
This budget was not posted on the county website or advertised in the same manner the FY 2026 budget proposed by staff was published and advertised, and therefore, could not be considered for a vote
Newkirk’s Budget
Includes cuts, but excludes cuts inserted in ‘alternative budget’ by Chairman Bennett
His recommendations resulted in a $1,589,211 savings. You can view them all here.
The proposal still included:
- Hiring 8 new School Resource Officers
- Adding 6 EMS personnel for the Stilson area
- Funding 4 additional Jail staff, 1 Sheriff’s Deputy, and 1 Administrative Assistant
- Addressing staffing needs for the Coroner’s Office
- Increasing funding for the District Attorney’s Office
- A 1.5% Across the Board Raise
This budget was not posted on the county website or advertised in the same manner the FY 2026 budget proposed by staff was published and advertised, and therefore, could not be considered for a vote.
You can watch the meeting here.
