Walker County, Georgia — county government finances, drawn entirely from the county's audited FY2025 Annual Financial Report. This page covers the county government only; the City of LaFayette is a separate government and none of its figures appear here.
Fiscal year: FY2025 — Oct 1, 2024 to Sep 30, 2025Basis: Audited figures onlyCounty seat: LaFayette, GeorgiaAuditor: Rushton LLC
All governmental funds combined, September 30, 2025 (fund basis).
General Fund balanceFY2025 Audited
$30,571,369
Of which unassigned: $24,114,548 — about 68% of General Fund expenditures, per the audit's MD&A.
Governmental revenues — fund basisFY2025 Audited
$78,750,360
All governmental funds, modified accrual (Exhibit A-5).
Governmental expenditures — fund basisFY2025 Audited
$83,331,655
All governmental funds, modified accrual (Exhibit A-5). Revenues fell short of expenditures by $4,581,295.
Bonded debt outstandingFY2025 Audited
$0
No bonded or long-term debt on the balance sheet. See the defeasance footnote in the obligations section below — $0 debt does not mean $0 obligations.
Net pension liabilityFY2025 Audited
$4,955,421
A long-term obligation shown separately from debt — it is not bonded debt. Governmental $4,799,270 + business-type $156,151.
Change in net position, FY2025FY2025 Audited
−$9,507,813
Total net position fell from $173,896,985 to $164,389,172 during FY2025.
Capital assets, netFY2025 Audited
$121,589,711
Primary government, September 30, 2025. Total liabilities were $24,451,320.
Source for all headline figures: Walker County, Georgia Annual Financial Report, For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 (Rushton LLC) — 2025 Walker County Annual Financial Report (PDF). Every figure on this page is labeled FY2025 Audited; FY2025 ended September 30, 2025, so these are not calendar-2025 or current-year figures.
How the fund year closed (as printed, Exhibit A-5): excess (deficiency) of revenues over expenditures −$4,581,295; other financing sources (uses), net −$342,195 (transfers in $3,448,589; transfers out −$3,790,884; sale of capital assets $100); net change in fund balances −$4,923,490; beginning balances $44,222,266 → ending $39,298,776.
Deficit shown, not hidden
The TSPLOST Capital Projects Fund ended FY2025 at −$3,392,796. Per Note 14 of the audit, the deficit reflects expenditures made in anticipation of future revenues, and the county plans to liquidate it through future revenue recognition. The Landfill Enterprise Fund likewise reported a deficit net position of −$1,734,759 (Note 14, same stated plan), and total business-type net position was −$622,036.
What the balances are made of — all governmental funds (Exhibit A-3)
Classification
Amount
Nonspendable (prepaid items)
$712,496
Restricted (11 purposes; largest: Capital outlay $5,501,475; Economic development $2,786,484; Grant specifications $865,399; Opioid remediation $624,399)
$11,795,696
Assigned (E911 $72,626; Landfill closure/post-closure $5,836,132; Trade and tourism $160,074)
$6,068,832
Unassigned
$20,721,752
Total
$39,298,776
The unassigned total of $20,721,752 is the General Fund's unassigned $24,114,548 plus the TSPLOST deficit of −$3,392,796 — it should never be read without that context. General Fund composition (Ex. A-3): Nonspendable $620,689 + Assigned for landfill closure and post-closure care $5,836,132 + Unassigned $24,114,548 = $30,571,369. Per the MD&A, General Fund unassigned balance is about 68% of General Fund expenditures and total fund balance about 87%.
Basis: Government-wide (full accrual) — Exhibit A-2 / MD&A "Changes in Net Position," governmental activities only. These figures use a different accounting basis from the fund tables above and are not interchangeable with them. FY2025 Audited
Source
Amount
Sales tax
$22,931,151
Property tax
$18,728,998
Charges for services
$14,340,654
Capital grants and contributions
$10,097,740
Insurance premium tax
$5,084,265
Operating grants and contributions
$3,650,282
Other taxes (intangible $377,210 + alcohol excise $354,588 + other $2,491,141)
$3,222,939
Interest and investment earnings
$718,789
Other revenues
$339,627
Total governmental revenues
$79,114,445
Taxes on this accrual basis total $49,967,353 (property $18,728,998 + sales $22,931,151 + insurance premium $5,084,265 + intangible $377,210 + alcohol excise $354,588 + other $2,491,141). That differs from the fund-basis Taxes line of $49,581,528 — a basis difference, explained in the caveats below. The two are never combined on this page.
Why these differ from the fund table: government-wide Public Works ($32,651,354) and Public Safety ($28,050,846) are far larger than the fund-basis current lines because the accrual statements fold in ARPA-funded water/sewer and road work, depreciation, and pension expense. The MD&A attributes +$19,211,455 of the Public Works increase to road resurfacing/repairs not capitalized plus ARPA water/sewer payments, and about $11,184,000 of the overall expense increase to personal services including the net pension liability adjustment. As printed (Ex. A-2): net (expense) revenue for governmental activities −$59,937,161; general revenues and transfers $50,683,474; change in governmental net position −$9,253,687 (beginning $174,264,895 → ending $165,011,208).
Component unit, shown separately: the discretely presented Walker County Health Department reported net position of $2,338,870. That is a component-unit figure, audited by other auditors — it is not county (primary government) net position and is not included in any total above.
Environmental liability, not debt — governmental closed-landfill post-closure $2,781,690 + business-type C&D landfill $3,054,442. Equals the General Fund amount assigned for landfill closure.
Compensated absences
$1,448,977
Obligation, not debt — governmental $1,405,382 + business-type $43,595.
Lease liabilities — primary government
$0
Exhibit A-1 reports none for the primary government.
Defeasance footnote — read with the $0
The Series 2019 Revenue Bonds were defeased in-substance in July 2024 (FY2024), and $8,540,000 of principal remains in an irrevocable escrow trust. The liability was removed from the county's statements (Note 10), so that $8,540,000 is not outstanding county debt and is never added to any debt total here. Equally, "$0 bonded debt" should not be read as "$0 obligations": the county still carries the pension ($4,955,421), landfill ($5,836,132), and compensated-absence ($1,448,977) obligations listed above.
Not county debt — excluded from every total on this page: the Development Authority has $347,199,287 of conduit debt outstanding (original issues $360,500,000). Per Note 11, these are limited obligations payable solely from third-party resources; they "do not constitute an indebtedness or pledge of the faith and credit" of the Authority or the County and are not reported as liabilities. They are named here only so their exclusion is explicit.
Budget (GAAP) and Actual — as printed in the audit
The audit itself contains GAAP-basis budgetary comparisons for the four major funds (Exhibits A-7 – A-10), labeled exactly as the AFR presents them: "Budget (GAAP) and Actual." These are the only budget figures on this dashboard. FY2025 Audited
General Fund (Exhibit A-7)
Original budget
Final budget
Actual
Variance vs final
Total revenues
$34,682,546
$36,639,100
$36,868,108
+$229,008
Total expenditures
$33,379,458
$35,636,655
$35,326,232
+$310,423 (under)
Net change in fund balance
$0
−$600,000
−$688,300
−$88,300
Fund balance, Sep 30 (Actual)
—
—
$30,571,369
—
Fire and Rescue Special Revenue Fund (Exhibit A-8)
Original budget
Final budget
Actual
Variance vs final
Revenues
$5,955,000
$5,955,000
$5,866,307
−$88,693
Expenditures (Public Safety)
$5,955,000
$7,098,000
$7,097,066
—
Net change in fund balance
$0
−$350,000
−$110,235
—
Fund balance, Sep 30 (Actual)
—
—
$525,115
—
American Rescue Plan Act Special Revenue Fund (Exhibit A-9)
Original budget
Final budget
Actual
Variance vs final
Revenues
$15,215,284
$6,905,000
$6,994,126
+$89,126
Expenditures
$19,817,073
$7,063,000
$7,060,722
—
Net change in fund balance (Actual)
—
—
+$92,438
—
Fund balance, Sep 30 (Actual)
—
—
$848,187
—
Development Authority Special Revenue Fund (Exhibit A-10)
Original budget
Final budget
Actual
Variance vs final
Revenues
$1,613,572
$2,038,450
$2,264,236
+$225,786
Expenditures (Housing and Development)
$1,613,572
$2,038,450
$2,038,429
—
Net change in fund balance (Actual)
—
—
+$225,907
—
Fund balance, Sep 30 (Actual)
—
—
$2,790,193
—
Why the budget columns show no fund balances
Budget columns in the audit's budgetary schedules do not carry forecast fund balances; only actual balances are shown. In Exhibits A-7 – A-10 the Original and Final budget columns print beginning and ending fund balances of $0 (General Fund Final column: $600,000) — a presentation artifact of appropriation balancing, not a forecast. The Actual column carries the true balances (for example, General Fund beginning $31,259,669; ending $30,571,369), and only the Actual column is used for balance lines on this page.
Read these before citing any figure from this page.
September 30 fiscal year-end. All figures are FY2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025), audited. They are not a "2025 budget" and not current-year figures.
No adopted budget book is published. The county posts no adopted budget book. The only county-posted budget material found is a worksheet-style "Budget Worksheet Report — Budget Year 2027" whose columns indicate a finance-review (pre-adoption) stage with unconfirmed adoption status. No figure from that worksheet appears on this page. The only budget figures shown are the audit's own audited budget-vs-actual schedules above, labeled as the audit presents them.
Audited figures only. Every number on this page traces to the FY2025 Annual Financial Report. No figure here is labeled "Adopted" or "Final budget."
Two accounting bases coexist in the audit. Fund-basis (modified accrual, Exhibits A-3/A-5) and government-wide (accrual, Exhibits A-1/A-2) totals differ by design — for example, Taxes of $49,581,528 on the fund basis vs $49,967,353 government-wide, and Public Works of $8,914,562 in current fund expenditures vs $32,651,354 in government-wide expenses. Every table on this page carries its basis label; figures from different bases are never summed or charted together.
Negative balances are real and are shown, not hidden: the TSPLOST fund deficit of −$3,392,796; the Landfill Enterprise Fund deficit net position of −$1,734,759; total business-type net position of −$622,036; and governmental net position fell $9,253,687 in FY2025.
Component unit separation. Health Department figures (net position $2,338,870; net OPEB asset $117,233; lease liabilities $5,309) belong to the discretely presented component unit, audited by other auditors, and are kept separate from county (primary government) figures. The county itself reports no OPEB amount and no lease liabilities on Exhibit A-1.
Proprietary-fund presentation difference (not an error). Exhibit A-11 reports business-type totals gross of interfund balances (total assets $3,108,094; total liabilities $3,761,147), while Exhibit A-1 nets internal balances (total assets $2,775,119; total liabilities $3,428,172). The difference in both cases is $332,975 of Due to other funds. This page uses Exhibit A-1 totals for government-wide displays.
No population figure. The Annual Financial Report prints no population figure (it has no statistical/demographic section), so none is shown on this page.
Inconsistencies inside the source document
MD&A vs statements — ARPA fund increase ($90). The MD&A narrative reports the ARPA fund increase as $92,348; the audited fund statements report $92,438. This page uses the statements' figure, which foots through revenues, expenditures, transfers, and beginning/ending balances.
Budget-column fund balances are presentation artifacts. In Exhibits A-7 – A-10 the budget columns show beginning and ending fund balances of $0 while the Actual column shows the true balances. Budget columns in the audit's budgetary schedules do not carry forecast fund balances; only actual balances are shown on this page, and the budget-column balance lines and their variances are never charted.
Restricted-balance labels differ between Exhibit A-1 and Exhibit A-3 — a basis difference, disclosed rather than "fixed." Examples: Opioid remediation restricted — $2,310,785 (government-wide, A-1) vs $624,399 (fund, A-3); Grant specifications — $1,454,594 (A-1) vs $865,399 (A-3); Fire and rescue — $834,056 (A-1) vs $455,990 restricted in the Fire Fund plus related amounts elsewhere (A-3); Capital outlay — $5,518,524 (A-1) vs $5,501,475 (A-3; difference $17,049). These reflect accrual vs modified-accrual recognition, including unavailable-revenue deferrals of $13,842,728 in the funds. Each exhibit foots internally; this page labels which exhibit each restricted figure comes from and never blends them.