County seat: Cedartown · Fiscal year ends June 30
Polk County’s finances on two separate, clearly labeled bases: the adopted FY2026 budget (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) from the county’s published budget book, and the audited FY2025 results (year ended June 30, 2025) from its Annual Financial Report. Every figure below is tagged with its fiscal year and status, and each section cites its source document. Cedartown is a separate city government with its own dashboard; no figures are shared between the two.
From Polk County Adopted FY2026 Operating Budgets (Ver. 7-9-2025), published at polkga.org.
From the Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, audited by Mauldin & Jenkins.
The county’s adopted operating budgets for the fiscal year running July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. The General Fund is adopted balanced at $31,055,817. The budget book prints no all-funds total; the combined figure below is computed from the book’s own fund totals and is labeled as such.
Adopted FY2026. Taxes carry the fund; a further $7,289,156 arrives as other financing sources, detailed below the table.
| Source | Adopted FY2026 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes | $21,108,750 | 68.0% |
| Licenses & Permits | $282,200 | 0.9% |
| Intergovernmental | $273,484 | 0.9% |
| Charges for Services | $834,400 | 2.7% |
| Fines | $677,100 | 2.2% |
| Investment Earnings | $75,000 | 0.2% |
| Miscellaneous | $515,727 | 1.7% |
| Other Financing Sources | $7,289,156 | 23.5% |
| Total revenues & other financing sources | $31,055,817 | 100% |
| Other financing sources — detail | Adopted FY2026 |
|---|---|
| Landfill Transfer In — GF Operations | $4,459,117 |
| Transfer Station | $60,000 |
| Airport Project | $350,000 |
| Fund Balance Prior Transfer In | $2,400,039 |
| Sale of Assets | $20,000 |
| Total other financing sources | $7,289,156 |
The three landfill-related transfers (operations, transfer station, airport project) total $4,869,117 moving from the Solid Waste enterprise fund into the General Fund — the single largest support inside the adopted General Fund after taxes themselves.
Source: Polk County Adopted FY2026 Operating Budgets (Ver. 7-9-2025), FY2026 adopted budget, published at polkga.org. Breakdown sums verified against the printed $31,055,817 total.
Adopted FY2026. Public safety is just over half of all General Fund spending.
Agency Allocations detail (foots to the $917,155 function total, as printed): Development Authority $263,073; Recreation $208,403; Health Department $181,155; Library $117,919; and other agencies as printed in the book.
Source: Polk County Adopted FY2026 Operating Budgets (Ver. 7-9-2025), FY2026 adopted budget, polkga.org.
Adopted FY2026. Two-thirds of the fund is people: personnel and benefits.
| Category | Adopted FY2026 |
|---|---|
| Personnel / Benefits | $20,665,680 |
| Purchase / Contract Services | $4,687,638 |
| Supplies | $2,117,584 |
| Capital Outlays | $466,900 |
| Other Costs | $1,767,103 |
| Debt Service | $36,654 |
| Other Financing Uses | $1,314,258 |
| Total expenditures & other financing uses | $31,055,817 |
The $1,314,258 of other financing uses is the General Fund’s transfer out to the E-911 fund — the same dollars that appear again inside the E-911 fund’s budget below, which is one reason the computed all-funds figure is gross of interfund transfers.
Source: Polk County Adopted FY2026 Operating Budgets (Ver. 7-9-2025), FY2026 adopted budget, polkga.org.
Adopted FY2026, each balanced as printed. Together they total $2,977,479. The E-911 / Emergency Telephone fund (Fund 215) alone is $2,115,258 — 71% of the group — and FY2025 was the year E-911 became a major fund in the county’s audited reporting.
| Fund | Fund no. | Adopted FY2026 |
|---|---|---|
| E-911 / Emergency Telephone | 215 | $2,115,258 |
| ARPA Judicial Grant | 231 | $460,562 |
| Opioid Settlement | 213 | $187,054 |
| Fire Fund | 291 | $50,000 |
| Clerks Authority | 206 | $30,000 |
| District Attorney | 296 | $30,000 |
| Jail Maintenance | 200 | $26,250 |
| Victim Assistance | 204 | $24,000 |
| Drug Abuse Treatment | 202 | $22,520 |
| Sheriff Other Programs | 294 | $15,000 |
| Law Library | 205 | $13,825 |
| Hotel Motel | 275 | $1,500 |
| County Police Federal Confiscated | 211 | $1,000 |
| County Police State Confiscated | 210 | $200 |
| Juvenile Probation | 201 | $110 |
| Sheriff State Confiscated | 209 | $100 |
| Sheriff Federal Confiscated | 292 | $100 |
| Total — 17 special revenue funds | $2,977,479 |
Source: Polk County Adopted FY2026 Operating Budgets (Ver. 7-9-2025), FY2026 adopted budgets by fund, polkga.org. Fund amounts sum to the $2,977,479 group total as printed.
Adopted FY2026: revenues of $6,668,851 equal expenses of $6,668,851, as printed.
Two facts inside that balance matter. First, $4,927,851 of the fund’s budgeted revenue is prior-year reserves counted as revenue — the fund is spending down accumulated balances, not living on current-year charges alone. Second, $4,459,117 is transferred out of the fund to General Fund operations (part of the $4,869,117 of landfill-related transfers into the General Fund shown above).
Computed all-funds total: $40,702,147. The budget book prints no all-funds total. This figure is computed from the book’s fund totals — General Fund $31,055,817 + special revenue funds $2,977,479 + Solid Waste $6,668,851 — and is gross of interfund transfers: it double-counts the $1,314,258 General Fund transfer to E-911 and the landfill’s $4,869,117 of transfers into the General Fund.
Source: Polk County Adopted FY2026 Operating Budgets (Ver. 7-9-2025), FY2026 adopted budget, polkga.org.
On page 5 of the budget book, the Summary of Expenditures table labels its total row “Total Revenues” even though the table presents expenditures. Page 6 labels the same $31,055,817 total correctly. The figures themselves are unaffected; the mislabel is the book’s, and it is disclosed here rather than silently corrected.
From the Polk County, Georgia Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, audited by Mauldin & Jenkins (report dated December 18, 2025). These are actual, audited results — a different basis from the adopted budget above, and the two are never blended on this page.
−$10,756,084
Governmental activities closed FY2025 with an unrestricted net position deficit of
$10,756,084 (total unrestricted across all activities: −$106,328). The deficit is driven
by two long-term obligations the county carries on its books — a total OPEB liability of
$16,464,086 (retiree health benefits) and a net pension liability of
$8,749,086 — not by bonded debt: Polk County has none. Total net position remains positive
at $64,487,055 because most of it is capital assets and restricted balances that cannot be spent
on operations.
Audited FY2025. The county’s only debt-like activity in FY2025 was retiring its financed purchases: they began the year at $314,427 and were paid down to $0. What remains is benefit obligations and accrued leave.
| Governmental long-term liability | June 30, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Total OPEB liability (retiree health) | $16,464,086 |
| Net pension liability | $8,749,086 |
| Compensated absences | $1,363,582 |
| Financed purchases | $0 |
| Total governmental long-term liabilities | $26,576,754 |
Bonds payable and notes payable: none outstanding. The OPEB and pension amounts above are the obligations behind the unrestricted net position deficit disclosed at the top of this section.
Source: Polk County, Georgia Annual Financial Report, FY2025 (year ended June 30, 2025), Note 7 and government-wide statements, audited by Mauldin & Jenkins. Report PDF via UGA TED.
Audited FY2025. Revenues landed essentially on the final budget; spending came in just under it. The ending fund balance ties to the audited fund statements.
| Original budget | Final budget | Actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues | $23,944,175 | $26,006,875 | $26,008,896 |
| Expenditures | $30,805,611 | $28,516,606 | $28,461,891 |
| Ending fund balance | $11,234,205 |
Actual revenues exceeded the final budget by just $2,021, and actual expenditures finished $54,715 under the final budget.
Source: Polk County, Georgia Annual Financial Report, FY2025, General Fund budget-and-actual schedule (report pp. 55–59), audited by Mauldin & Jenkins. Report PDF via UGA TED.
The county’s business-type activity. Net position of $10,956,039 at June 30, 2025.
| Solid Waste (business-type) | FY2025 audited |
|---|---|
| Operating revenues | $1,737,508 |
| Transfers out (principally to the General Fund) | $2,615,549 |
| Landfill postclosure liability reported by the county (Highway 278 site) | $931,240 |
| Net position, June 30, 2025 | $10,956,039 |
Grady Road landfill — whose obligation? Closure and postclosure care at the Grady Road landfill are the contractor/lessee’s contractual obligation under the Waste Connections operating agreement. The gross estimate associated with that obligation is $15,992,689, but it is not county debt and not a county liability; the only landfill liability the county itself reports is the $931,240 postclosure amount above.
Source: Polk County, Georgia Annual Financial Report, FY2025 (year ended June 30, 2025), proprietary fund statements and landfill note, audited by Mauldin & Jenkins. Report PDF via UGA TED.
Audited FY2025 net position. These legally separate organizations are presented in the county’s report as component units; their figures are not part of the county totals anywhere on this page.
| Component unit | Net position, FY2025 |
|---|---|
| Polk County Health Department | $953,584 |
| Development Authority of Polk County | $2,402,132 |
Reporting note: FY2025 was also the year the E-911 Fund became a major fund in the county’s financial reporting (Note 15, reporting-entity change).
Source: Polk County, Georgia Annual Financial Report, FY2025 (year ended June 30, 2025), component unit statements, audited by Mauldin & Jenkins. Report PDF via UGA TED.