The county government's money, from its own published documents: the adopted budget for fiscal year 2026 and the audited financial results for fiscal year 2024. County figures only — Bryan County publishes separately from the City of Pembroke and the City of Richmond Hill, and no city figures appear on this page.
Two source documents, two different kinds of number. FY2026 figures are an adopted (planned) budget; FY2024 figures are audited actuals. They are never blended on this page.
Adopted December 9, 2025, for the year January 1 – December 31, 2026. The book's headline "$173,496,000 budget" is its expenditure total; adopted revenues are higher, and the difference sits entirely in Special Funds, where capital-fund receipts are budgeted ahead of project spending.
Budget basis. Countywide and Unincorporated Services are balanced (revenues = expenditures); Special Funds are not.
| Fund group | Adopted revenues | Adopted expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| Countywide Services | $42,967,000 | $42,967,000 |
| Unincorporated Services | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Special Funds | $125,058,200 | $120,025,700 |
| Minor Funds | $503,300 | $503,300 |
| Total — all funds | $178,528,500 | $173,496,000 |
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — 2026 Annual Budget [FY2026 Adopted], Total Budget Summary, pp. 33–34. 2026-adopted-operating-budget.pdf
Budget basis. Percentages are computed on the $178,528,500 revenue total.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — 2026 Annual Budget [FY2026 Adopted], Revenue by Class/Fund, p. 36. 2026-adopted-operating-budget.pdf
Budget basis, shown with the book's printed row totals. Two of these rows carry an offsetting $600,000 misallocation in the book — see Disclosure 1 below.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — 2026 Annual Budget [FY2026 Adopted], Expenditures by Class/Fund, p. 37. 2026-adopted-operating-budget.pdf
The county's main operating fund: revenues equal expenditures. The revenue list below is the complete class table, including the Fines line one of the book's summary tables omits (Disclosure 2).
The book's 24-line tax detail foots exactly to the $36,067,600 Taxes class total; the eight lines above are its largest.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — 2026 Annual Budget [FY2026 Adopted], Countywide Services Fund, pp. 43–48. 2026-adopted-operating-budget.pdf
Services for the unincorporated area, funded mainly by fees and the insurance premium tax. Revenues equal expenditures.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — 2026 Annual Budget [FY2026 Adopted], Unincorporated Services Fund, pp. 157–158. 2026-adopted-operating-budget.pdf
This is where the budget's $5,032,500 of revenues-over-expenditures sits: capital-fund receipts (sales taxes, grants, water/sewer capital funding) are budgeted ahead of project spending.
| Fund | Revenues | Expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| Water & Sewer (505) | $40,991,000 | $38,167,100 |
| ARPA Drinking Water | $30,000,000 | $30,000,000 |
| TSPLOST 2 | $30,326,100 | $29,569,500 |
| SPLOST 8 | $15,135,000 | $14,597,100 |
| TSPLOST 1 | $4,714,200 | $4,714,200 |
| E-911 | $2,535,400 | $2,471,300 |
| Impact Fees | $1,310,000 | $460,000 |
| Urban Redevelopment Agency | $46,500 | $46,500 |
| ARPA – SFRF | $0 | $0 |
| Total — Special Funds | $125,058,200 | $120,025,700 |
The $20,000,000 Water & Sewer "Miscellaneous" revenue is presented by the book as capital funding of that type; the book does not itemize it further on this page, and it is not relabeled here.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — 2026 Annual Budget [FY2026 Adopted], Special Funds, pp. 176–177; Water & Sewer p. 184; E-911 pp. 179–180; SPLOST 8 pp. 189–190. 2026-adopted-operating-budget.pdf
Revenues equal expenditures in each minor fund.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — 2026 Annual Budget [FY2026 Adopted], Minor Funds, pp. 204–205. 2026-adopted-operating-budget.pdf
From the county's audited Financial Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 (Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC; unmodified opinions). Two accounting bases appear in that report — governmental funds (modified accrual) and government-wide (accrual) — and every table below carries its basis label, because the two sets of totals differ by design.
Statement of Net Position, December 31, 2024. Total net position is 98.8% net investment in capital assets ($348,557,268, including $301,586,186 of construction in progress for the water/sewer build-out) — unrestricted net position is a deficit of −$27,561,595. The business-type deficit reflects GEFA-note-financed construction not yet in service.
| Component | Governmental | Business-type | Total primary gov't |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net investment in capital assets | $79,616,089 | $268,941,179 | $348,557,268 |
| Restricted | $31,669,893 | $0 | $31,669,893 |
| Unrestricted | $21,626,124 | −$49,187,719 | −$27,561,595 |
| Total net position | $132,912,106 | $219,753,460 | $352,665,566 |
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2024 [FY2024 Audited], Statement of Net Position, p. 14. Financial Report (publisher document)
All governmental funds, FY2024 actuals. Note the one-time grant: $45,088,347 of the intergovernmental line is the state ARPA Drinking Water grant, and a further $7,500,000 of contributions sits in that same fund.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], governmental funds operating statement, pp. 19–20. Financial Report (publisher document)
All governmental funds, FY2024 actuals. Capital outlay — mostly the ARPA Drinking Water construction ($54,731,704 of it in that fund alone) — is more than half of all spending.
As printed in the report: revenues fell short of expenditures by −$24,586,850; other financing sources added +$7,330,395; the net change in fund balances was −$17,256,455, taking total governmental fund balances from $65,078,708 to $47,822,253.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], governmental funds operating statement, pp. 19–20. Financial Report (publisher document)
Statement of Activities, FY2024. These totals are not comparable line-by-line with the fund-basis tables above — the bases differ by design (for example, public safety is $20,988,569 on the fund basis and $22,037,496 here).
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], Statement of Activities, p. 15; MD&A. Financial Report (publisher document)
Two funds ended the year in deficit — SPLOST VII and the ARPA Drinking Water Fund, against future sales-tax and grant receipts as those cycles close out. They are shown as printed, not dropped. The previously major ARPA Fund was folded into nonmajor funds in FY2024 and reports $0.
Restricted balances are mostly capital projects ($23,298,458) and unincorporated services ($7,103,220), with smaller amounts for the jail, drug education, law library, clerk of courts, juvenile services, recreation, engineering and inspections, and the sheriff. General Fund: balance $21,564,948, of which unassigned $20,221,787 — 44.8% of General Fund expenditures ($45,115,856).
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], Balance Sheet, pp. 16–17; operating statement, pp. 19–20. Financial Report (publisher document)
Kept separate, as the report presents them. Bonded debt is $34,423,000. Notes payable, financed purchases, leases, and other obligations are different instruments and are never merged into that figure here; pension and OPEB liabilities are not debt and are reported on their own lines.
| Item | Governmental | Business-type | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonds payable — bonded debt Governmental: Series 2022 general obligation transportation sales tax bonds ($15,178,000 issued Nov 2022, 3.75%, maturing Oct 1, 2027; Note 6 states they will be paid from the TSPLOST Fund using funds allocated to the City of Richmond Hill). Business-type: Series 2021 Water & Sewer refunding/improvement revenue bonds ($29,500,000 issued Mar 2021, 1.62%, maturing Mar 1, 2036). | $11,590,000 | $22,833,000 | $34,423,000 |
| Notes payable (direct borrowings) Business-type is the GEFA note for water/sewer infrastructure, still in drawdown — no repayment schedule yet (Note 6). Governmental is an Ameris Bank note (DFCS building refinance, 3.09%, through Sep 2028). | $337,616 | $65,900,962 | $66,238,578 |
| Financed purchases payable | $29,283,359 | $2,346,812 | $31,630,171 |
| Leases payable | $1,482,717 | $0 | $1,482,717 |
| SBITA payable | $206,587 | $11,507 | $218,094 |
| Compensated absences (obligation, not debt) | $1,631,991 | $0 | $1,631,991 |
| Landfill postclosure care costs (environmental obligation, not debt; two closed landfill sites, paid from the General Fund) | $300,000 | $0 | $300,000 |
| Subtotal — the MD&A debt table's aggregate (excludes pension & OPEB; not "bonded debt") | $44,832,270 | $91,092,281 | $135,924,551 |
| Net pension liability (ACCG defined-benefit plan) — not debt | $7,655,458 | $0 | $7,655,458 |
| Total OPEB liability (single-employer, unfunded) — not debt | $4,412,077 | $0 | $4,412,077 |
| Total long-term liabilities (Note 6) | $56,899,805 | $91,092,281 | $147,992,086 |
Of the Note 6 total, $10,464,709 is due within one year (governmental $7,977,981; business-type $2,486,728). Total liabilities of the primary government on the Statement of Net Position are $204,668,633 (governmental $101,189,033; business-type $103,479,600).
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], Note 6; MD&A debt table, p. 12; Statement of Net Position, p. 14. Financial Report (publisher document)
Proprietary fund statements. The fund statements report totals gross of interfund balances; the government-wide Statement of Net Position eliminates $416,241 of internal balances (fund assets $323,649,301 vs government-wide $323,233,060; fund liabilities $103,895,841 vs $103,479,600). Government-wide displays on this page use the Statement of Net Position totals.
Operating expenses: purchased services $1,467,107; materials & supplies $1,431,361; personnel $693,196; depreciation/amortization $656,061.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], proprietary fund statements, pp. 26–27. Financial Report (publisher document)
These are the audited FY2024 budgetary comparisons — a different year and document from the FY2026 adopted budget above.
| Original budget | Final budget | Actual | Variance vs final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenues | $38,053,800 | $47,336,973 | $44,829,115 | −$2,507,858 |
| Total expenditures | $38,289,300 | $47,500,700 | $45,115,856 | +$2,384,844 (under) |
| Net change in fund balance | $0 | $0 | −$802,374 | — |
| Fund balance, Dec 31 (actual) | — | — | $21,564,948 | — |
The MD&A attributes the growth from original to final budget largely to tornado-related road and facility work (Roads final budget $12,557,108 vs original $4,338,838) and insurance-reimbursement revenue (Miscellaneous final budget $9,460,673 vs original $177,500; actual miscellaneous $6,585,614 — "primarily due to insurance reimbursements received in fiscal year 2024 for damaged properties incurred from the April 5, 2022 tornado").
The ARPA Drinking Water actual revenues are intergovernmental $45,088,347 + contributions $7,500,000 + interest $8,976. The fund spent ahead of grant recognition, which is why it ends the year in deficit.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], budgetary comparison schedules, pp. 22–25. Financial Report (publisher document)
These are discretely presented component units of the reporting entity. Their figures are not county (primary government) figures and are never added to them. The Board of Health and the Development Authority were audited by other auditors.
Source: Bryan County, Georgia — Financial Report, FY2024 [FY2024 Audited], Statement of Net Position component-unit columns, p. 14; Note 6B. Financial Report (publisher document)
Everything a careful reader needs to interpret the figures above — including four defects in the budget book itself, disclosed here rather than silently corrected.