The Habersham County budget review meetings have come and gone and it appears that no new spending maybe on the horizon. A total for the Habersham general fund requests are approximately 0.6% lower than 2025.
Interim County Manager Tim Sims pointed out that the 2026 budget is inline with the 2025 budget. The original numbers reported were inaccurate due to the way the Georgia Finance Officers Association (GFOA) requires budget documents to be reported.
The county’s budget document available online, the FY2025 Budget Guide Book, states that, on pages 36 and 37, the 2025 budget was $36,599,399. The true budget for 2025 was $39,171,485, according to Sims. The lower amount had removed over $2.5 million in transfers out due to reporting requirements.
The $2.3 million additional spending was reported inaccurately due to that budget document reporting requirement.
As it stands, the general fund operating budget for fiscal year 2026 is projected to be $38,927,317—a decrease of 0.62% or $244,168 less than the previous year’s budget. That figure does not include additional spending for more personnel or capital improvements.
Interim Finance Director Kiani Holden revealed that no cuts had been made to the budget requests prior to their presentations, allowing the Commission to view the requests in their entirety and unaltered.
The Habersham County Commission, interim County Manager, and Finance Department will have a busy few months ahead as they begin the difficult process of reviewing and adjusting the county’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Last year, the county budgeted $22,165,414 in property tax collections for its general fund. However, county officials will not have access to the updated tax digest until late May or early June, which will provide a clearer picture of property tax collections. The impact of HB 581, a bill that could potentially affect property taxes, remains uncertain at this time.
In a related matter, the Commission opted into HB 581 due to the county’s existing property valuation freeze for homestead-exempt properties. This freeze is considered more beneficial than the statewide floating homestead exemption offered by the legislation, which caps property valuation increases at the inflationary rate of the previous year.
During the budget review meetings, Commissioners Bruce Harkness and Kelly Woodall raised concerns over several budget requests, particularly those from the Roads and Bridges and Recreation departments. The pair also questioned the number of employees needed in certain departments and the growing number of take-home vehicles in the county’s fleet, both of which will be closely examined in the coming months.
The total budget numbers for the county have not been tallied at this time. However, last year, the county had a total budget including the general fund of $80,896,198.
Budget hearings will be scheduled for June, at which time a revised budget will be presented to the Commission and the public for further review and comment. At that point, the staff will have received direction from the Commission on which priorities to focus on and which cuts, if any, need to be made to balance the budget.
The article has been updated to reflect that there is no additional spending requested for the Habersham County FY 2026 budget. Interim Habersham County Manager Tim Sims contributed to the clarification.
