Athens-Clarke County manager outlines FY26 "Big Rocks": $9M projected revenue uptick but ~$3M shortfall and limited capital funding

County management and staff on March 25 presented a high-level preview of FY26 "Big Rocks"—major revenue and expenditure issues that will shape the mayor's budget proposal—warning of a roughly $3 million gap after accounting for recommended expenditures.

County Manager Brad (presenting the manager's proposal) said the county is estimating roughly $9,000,000 in additional revenues for FY26 compared with the prior year, an increase running at about 4.5 percent. "We had almost $40,000,000 of requests from our departments above their base budget," he said; of those additional operating requests, the manager said his recommendation was to fund a small portion. "My ultimate recommendation ... is to only recommend funding about 9.5% of that $34,000,000 of additional operating," he said.

Manager Brad told commissioners the manager-proposed expenditures and transfers out run about $3,000,000 more than projected revenues. The presentation also showed approximately $4,500,000 in new-initiative requests (the manager recommended funding roughly 10% of those) and about $26,000,000 in capital requests across roughly 104–110 individual project submittals. Staff recommended funding…