The county’s money, from its own published documents: the FY2027 adopted budget, audited FY2025 fund balances and debt, and where the public safety dollars go. County seat: Monroe.
Population 112,696 (Census estimate, July 1, 2025)Credit ratings S&P AA+ · Moody’s Aa1General obligation debt $0
Read the headline total carefully
Enterprise funds are the largest share of the all-funds budget — $120.0M of the $287.0M — and more than two-thirds of that Enterprise total is one-time construction of the HLC Water Treatment Facility ($81.4M, funded by state grants, loans, and bonds), not annual operations. The $287.0M all-funds total is not annual operating spending — the county’s day-to-day operating budget is the $107.1M General Fund.
Total budget — all funds
$286,973,910
Exact sum of the book’s five fund rows; the book prints no grand total.
FY2027Computed
General Fund budget
$107,095,513
The county’s main operating fund.
FY2027Adopted
General Fund fund balance
$84,575,138
Unassigned: $82,292,797 — 112.1% of FY2025 General Fund expenditures.
Every fund the county budgets, grouped by type. The five rows below are exactly as printed; the total is their sum, because the budget book prints no grand-total row.
Enterprise Funds$119,984,08441.8%
General Fund$107,095,51337.3%
Capital Project Funds$31,595,88711.0%
Special Revenue Funds$23,900,7828.3%
Debt Service Fund$4,397,6441.5%
Total — all funds (Computed)$286,973,910
For comparison, the FY2026 adopted total computed the same way was $278,626,580, with a General Fund of $100,974,984. News references to a “~$107M FY27 budget” describe the General Fund only.
Source:FY 2027 Adopted Budget — Walton County Board of Commissioners / Finance Department (FY2027, Adopted).
Enterprise funds — FY2027 adopted
Business-type activities that charge for services. One line dominates: the HLC Water Treatment Facility figure is one-time plant construction funding (state grant, loan, and bond financed), not annual operations.
HLC Water Treatment FacilityOne-time construction — not annual operations$81,378,26967.8%
Water Department$17,984,29915.0%
Hard Labor Creek Reservoir$9,962,1508.3%
EMS$8,178,6556.8%
Solid Waste$2,480,7112.1%
Total — Enterprise Funds$119,984,084
Source:FY 2027 Adopted Budget — Walton County Board of Commissioners / Finance Department (FY2027, Adopted).
Public safety — FY2027 adopted
The sheriff, jail, fire, and emergency services together account for a computed $71,656,501 — the budget book prints no public safety grand total, so that figure is the sum of the rows below.
Sheriff’s Office
Jail Operations$22,537,507
Uniform Patrol$6,322,509
E-911$4,687,004
Court Services$3,498,783
Sheriff (administration)$3,330,530
Criminal Investigation$2,960,492
Law Enforcement Admin$2,484,729
Youth Investigation$1,857,812
Communications / E911$10,906
Total — Sheriff’s Office$47,690,272
Fire
Fire Fighting$13,165,954
Administration$1,334,930
Fire Station Building$559,500
Training$49,000
Total — Fire$15,109,384
Other public safety
EMS$8,178,655
EMA$362,754
Coroner$315,436
Public safety grand total (Computed)$71,656,501
Source:FY 2027 Adopted Budget — Walton County Board of Commissioners / Finance Department (FY2027, Adopted). Grand total labeled Computed — the book prints none.
Capital projects & special revenue — FY2027 adopted
Capital funds are dominated by SPLOST V, the current penny sales tax program. Special revenue funds are restricted to specific purposes; the largest are listed.
Capital Project Funds
SPLOST V$22,269,10070.5%
Public Safety Complex$5,760,00018.2%
Public Facility Authority$2,604,6258.2%
Impact Fees$584,6621.9%
SPLOST IV$365,0001.2%
SPLOST III$12,500
Total — Capital Project Funds$31,595,887
Special Revenue Funds — largest funds
Total Special Revenue Funds: $23,900,782 (FY2027, Adopted). Largest funds:
Fire District$15,109,384
E-911$4,687,004
Inmate Phone$1,036,800
Inmate Commissary$645,400
SO Forfeited Federal Drug$542,350
DFAC Building$542,250
Multiple Grant$355,803
Seized Drug$284,668
Source:FY 2027 Adopted Budget — Walton County Board of Commissioners / Finance Department (FY2027, Adopted).
Governmental fund balances — FY2025 audited
What the county’s governmental funds held at June 30, 2025. Total balances fell $68,992,846 during FY2025 — from $187,538,357 — driven by capital construction spending, while the General Fund balance itself rose $10,419,873.
General FundPrepaid items $1,599,815 + inventory $682,526 + unassigned $82,292,797$84,575,13871.3%
Nonmajor Governmental Funds$16,438,32413.9%
Public Facilities Authority$14,188,24512.0%
2019 SPLOST$4,723,3864.0%
American Rescue Plan$926,5930.8%
Public Safety Complex FundDeficit balance−$2,306,175
Total — governmental fund balances$118,545,511
General Fund revenues — FY2025 actual
$91,890,196
Expenditures: $73,402,253
Total governmental revenues — FY2025 actual
$153,012,798
Expenditures: $202,032,483, including $100,661,757 capital outlay
Walton County carries no general obligation debt. Its $297.2M of outstanding debt is revenue bonds and financed purchases — $2,707 per capita, or 7.12% of personal income. Ratings: S&P AA+, Moody’s Aa1.
Governmental activities — $151,864,000
Jail Facilities Revenue Bonds$109,955,000
Public Facilities Authority Revenue Bonds$35,884,000
Financed Purchases$5,215,000
Leases / Subscriptions$810,000
Business-type activities — $145,365,000
Revenue Bonds$115,547,000
Financed Purchases / Notes$29,105,000
Financed Purchases (other)$434,000
Leases$279,000
Total debt outstanding — primary government$297,229,000
Document access (extracted under outage). Walton County publishes its budget book and ACFR through the University of Georgia’s TED portal, which was down (HTTP 503) during research. The figures on this page were extracted from those documents under that outage and are due a spot re-verification once the portal recovers. The FY2027 figures were also cross-checked against the county’s own DocumentCenter edition where possible.
Two editions of the FY2027 book. The county DocumentCenter edition is the Proposed edition (May 1, 2026); the TED edition is the Adopted edition used here. Inside the Adopted edition, the manager’s message and CFO transmittal letter still say “Proposed.” Only one figure changed between Proposed and Adopted: Special Revenue Funds, $23,891,782 → $23,900,782. Adoption followed public hearings on May 5 and May 19, with adoption on June 2.
E-911 misprint. In the Adopted book, the E-911 fund’s revenue components foot to its stated total of $4,687,004, but its single expenditure line prints $4,678,004 — a $9,000 misprint (exactly the Proposed→Adopted change). This page uses $4,687,004.
Computed totals. The budget book prints no all-funds grand total and no public safety grand total; $286,973,910 and $71,656,501 are computed sums of the book’s own rows and are labeled Computed wherever they appear. News references to a “~$107M FY27 budget” describe the General Fund only.
Fund deficits at June 30, 2025 (ACFR). Public Safety Complex Fund −$2,306,175; Multiple Grants Fund −$22,863; Workers’ Compensation Fund −$55,732.
MD&A vs. audited tables. The ACFR’s MD&A narrative describes governmental long-term debt in a way that omits the $145.8M of revenue bonds shown in its own tables, and gives slightly different change and water/sewer debt figures. This page follows the audited tables throughout.
Population. Shown as 112,696 (U.S. Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025), as printed in the FY2027 Adopted Budget and matching Census QuickFacts. The ACFR’s demographic table prints 109,792 from a survey-based source; the QuickFacts/budget-book figure is used here.