Commissioner to welcome public for budget hearing

One of the first things to notice about the FY26 Proposed Budget is its size. At first glance, the upcoming General Government Fund Budget appears to be about $5.5 million larger than the last operating budget adopted by former commissioner Lamar Paris in December 2024.

The FY26 General Fund balances to $33,630,083, while the FY25 budget – that is, the current year budget – balanced to $28,053,041 at adoption. But many of the accounting structures have changed between 2025 and 2026, which helps explain the apparent massive difference.

For example, the FY26 budget contains about $6 million in funds that were not included in the General Fund last year. New in 2026, the Finance Department has incorporated health insurance costs and the entire Recreation Department budget into the main operating fund for the county.

“First, the Internal Service Fund is used to pay employee health insurance costs,” said Wilcox, who previously noted the Internal Service Fund has been removed for ’26. “This was performed outside of the General Fund and even outside the regular accounting functions (in the past).”

That $3 million earmarked as its own fund last year is now housed within the General Government Fund, with expenditures assigned to the exact department of each employee receiving health insurance.

Also for 2026, the Finance Department has incorporated all the Recreation Department expenditures into the General Fund, showing an increase of approximately $3 million to the budget. Formerly, the Rec Department was completely set apart from other county finances.

Together, the newly incorporated health insurance and Rec Department expenditures/revenues make the main operating budget seem substantially bigger, though the accounting is net zero, essentially providing a clearer picture of how government funds are being spent.

Painting a clearer picture still, on Oct. 1, the Finance Department began migrating the finances for the Accountability Court, Recreation Department, Golf Course, Community Center and View Restaurant to different accounting software.

“This created many new departments within the accounting framework and provided an opportunity to realign functions to more closely match the Uniform Georgia Chart of Accounts,” per the 2026 Annual Budget Book available at https://www.unioncountyga.gov/403/Governmental-Finance.

Migrating the financials for the above accounts added more than two dozen “separate departments and/or funds within the overall system,” offering even more fiscal clarity.

This is the first budget to be set by Commissioner Collins, who has overseen the running of county government since January. He has taken a very different tack toward the budgeting process in an attempt to maximize transparency for the public.

Assisting him in his efforts is County Finance Director Kay Wilcox and her team in the Finance Department. Wilcox started on the new budget shortly after she came aboard with the county, transitioning from “incremental” budgeting to “priority-based or zero-based budgeting.”

“In the past, the standard budgeting method for both private and public entities was the incremental method,” Wilcox said. “The example below may help explain this approach.

“(With the incremental method), generally, the increases or decreases in budget amounts may be based on the Consumer Price Index, dramatic increases or decreases in revenue streams or specific knowledge related to a particular situation.

“Priority-based or zero-based budgeting is a more collaborative process that involves department leaders, finance and administrators. Priorities are determined, and the budget is not based solely on past spending or revenue. Each department leader is asked to justify their budgets prior to approval by the Commissioner.

“This is the first year that this type of budgeting has been implemented in Union County, and it was a learning experience for all of us. Plus, I took the finance director’s position in February of 2025, so I did not have historical knowledge of the way things were done in years’ past.

“Therefore, we spent a great deal of time researching past revenue and expenditure history to ensure that our projected budget figures were based strictly on priorities and upcoming needs and were reasonable and sound.”

Added Wilcox, “The accounting could have certainly remained in its former state; many local governments do the same thing. However, Commissioner Collins is committed to transparency, and we did everything we could to ensure that it was comprehensive and easy to understand.”

As to whether the FY26 budget will require the use of county “reserves” or “rainy day funds” to balance, Wilcox said, “The short answer is no.”

“We don’t plan on using any of the general fund balance that exists at the end of 2025 in 2026,” she said. “However, to clarify – the fund balance is made up of all cash available in a fund at any specific moment in time.

“For 2024, we had to make an adjustment to the budget, but we maintained a fund balance of $6 million. If we do not encounter problems in 2026 that require extensive expenditure, we plan to maintain, at a minimum, the fund balance that was shown on the 2024 audit.”

More information will be available in the Dec. 2 public hearing, when the county delivers part two of its FY26 budget presentation and gives residents chances to respond and ask questions.

“We have worked very hard to rein in spending Commissioner Collins’ first year in office and believe that will have a significant impact as well,” Wilcox said.

She went on to note that Collins “has supported all the departments in the county to ensure they have what they need and supported their budget requests.”

“His focus has been on eliminating unnecessary spending. While none of the eliminated spending was substantial, we have found many instances of savings across county government,” Wilcox said.

Moving forward, Wilcox is hopeful the Commissioner’s Office can implement a new communications strategy “to share the financial status of the county on a regular basis outside of the budgeting process, e.g., quarterly or semi-annually.”

“We are also hopeful to supply financial information on a regular basis on our website,” she said.