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Cobb County Pulse

Cobb County, Georgia — budget and audited financial figures taken only from the county's own published documents: the FY2025-2026 Biennial Budget Book and the FY2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). Every figure is labeled with its fiscal year. Cobb County's fiscal year runs October 1 – September 30.

How the budget book labels its two years

The biennial book presents FY2025 as the Adopted budget and FY2026 as the Proposed budget. In the book's own words, the document "incorporates the adopted FY 2025 budget, and the Proposed FY 2026 budget," and because Georgia law requires budgets to be adopted annually, "the second year of the biennial period is a recommendation only" — an amended version of the FY2026 figures was to be adopted in July 2025 for the fiscal period October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026.

This page follows the book's labels exactly: FY2025 figures are marked Adopted, FY2026 figures are marked Proposed (as presented in the book).

FY2026 · Proposed in the book
Total budget — all funds
$1,470,198,497
Operating budgets $1,311,105,848 + capital funds $159,092,649, as tabled in the FY2025-2026 Biennial Budget Book.
FY2026 · Proposed in the book
General Fund budget
$636,117,980
The county's primary operating fund, FY2026 column of the budget book's Operating Budgets Summary.
FY2025 · Adopted
Total budget — all funds
$1,422,773,068
Operating budgets $1,276,073,566 + capital funds $146,699,502. The book describes the FY2025 adopted total as "just over $1.422 billion."
FY2025 · Adopted
General Fund budget
$624,801,142
FY2025 adopted General Fund revenue and expenditures, per the budget book's Budget at a Glance and General Fund Overview.
FY2024 · Audited · ACFR
General Fund fund balance
$353,907,429
At September 30, 2024, per the FY2024 ACFR governmental funds balance sheet. Unassigned portion: $325,795,202.
FY2024 · Audited · ACFR
Long-term debt outstanding
$515,401,016
Total debt at September 30, 2024 (Note 7, FY2024 ACFR). The ACFR's MD&A states this as "a net of $515.4 million," excluding interest expense.
2024 · Estimate stated in the ACFR
County population
784,300
Estimated population stated in the FY2024 ACFR, citing the Woods & Poole Economics 2024 Data Pamphlet; the ACFR notes Cobb is the third most populous county in Georgia.

The budget by fund

Operating budgets by fund, exactly as tabled in the budget book's Operating Budgets Summary — FY2025 Adopted alongside the book's FY2026 Proposed column — followed by the capital funds from its Capital Funds Summary. Amounts are budgeted revenues, which the book balances with budgeted expenditures at the fund level.

Governmental funds
General Fund$624,801,142$636,117,980
Claims$122,417,518$123,307,075
Community Service Block Grant (CSBG)$804,348$804,348
E911$18,242,679$18,242,679
Fire$153,605,210$153,605,210
Hotel/Motel Tax$20,500,000$20,500,000
Law Library$520,529$520,529
Parking Deck$758,285$758,285
Street Light District$6,097,364$6,097,364
CSSD I$3,650,000$3,650,000
CSSD II$8,805,800$8,805,800
Six Flags SSD$1,274,095$1,274,095
Subtotal — governmental funds$961,476,970$973,683,365
Business-type funds
Golf Course$2,621,500$2,621,500
Sustainability, Waste, and Beautification$2,032,937$2,032,937
Transit$37,887,082$38,271,305
Water$272,055,077$294,496,741
Subtotal — business-type funds$314,596,596$337,422,483
Total operating funds$1,276,073,566$1,311,105,848
Capital funds
Stadium Capital Maintenance$2,880,000$2,940,000
Capital Projects$13,635,293$16,448,440
Water RE&I$101,060,790$103,980,790
Water System Development$29,123,419$35,723,419
Total capital funds$146,699,502$159,092,649
Total budget — operating + capital$1,422,773,068$1,470,198,497

Source: Cobb County FY2025-2026 Biennial Budget Book — "Operating Budgets Summary" and "Capital Funds Summary" tables (FY2025 Adopted / FY2026 Proposed columns). Combined totals are the sum of the book's own operating and capital totals.

Largest departments — FY2025 adopted operating budgets

The budget book's only by-department presentation is its Department/Fund Matrix of FY2025 Appropriated Operating Funds. These are the ten largest entries in that matrix, with each amount exactly as printed and its share of the FY2025 adopted total operating funds of $1,276,073,566, computed from the book's own numbers. The top ten together account for 73.77% of FY2025 adopted operating funds.

Water System Fund$272,055,077
21.32% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Water agency
Fire$153,605,210
12.04% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Public Safety agency
Sheriff$123,093,591
9.65% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Elected agency
Medical/Dental Claims Fund$105,148,045
8.24% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Administration agency
Police$103,025,335
8.07% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Public Safety agency
General Fund Admin & Contingency$61,118,775
4.79% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Administration agency
Transit Operating Fund$37,887,082
2.97% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Transportation agency
Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Affairs$34,624,163
2.71% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Public Services agency
Transportation (DOT)$25,677,294
2.01% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Transportation agency
Information Technology Services$25,106,251
1.97% of FY2025 adopted operating funds · Support Services agency

Source: Cobb County FY2025-2026 Biennial Budget Book — "Cobb County Government Department/Fund Matrix, FY 2025 Appropriated Operating Funds" (TOTALS column, all operating funds combined per department). Shares computed from the matrix amounts and the book's FY2025 adopted total operating funds.

Audited position — FY2024 ACFR

Audited actuals for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024, from the county's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. These are results after the fact, not budget figures.

Fund balances at September 30, 2024

General Fund — total fund balance$353,907,429
General Fund — unassigned$325,795,202
General Fund — net change in FY2024+$31,822,123
All governmental funds combined$994,792,305

Debt at September 30, 2024

Total long-term debt outstanding$515,401,016
Governmental activities — total debt$373,914,137
Business-type activities — total debt$141,486,879
Revenue bonds payable (both activities)$430,096,641

The ACFR's Management's Discussion & Analysis summarizes the debt position as: "As of September 30, 2024, Cobb County had a net of $515.4 million in outstanding long-term debt, which does not include interest expense. Of the outstanding amount, $430.1 million comprises revenue bonds (net of bond premium)." The exact totals above are from Note 7, Long-Term Obligations, and sum to the MD&A's rounded figures.

Source: Cobb County Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, fiscal year ended September 30, 2024 — Governmental Funds Balance Sheet; Statement of Revenues, Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balances; Note 7, Long-Term Obligations; and Management's Discussion & Analysis.

About these figures

Two different kinds of numbers. The budget figures on this page are plans adopted — or, for FY2026, proposed — in advance. The ACFR figures are audited actual results after the fiscal year closed. They are not interchangeable, and each figure above is labeled with the fiscal year and document it came from.

Fiscal years. Cobb County's fiscal year runs October 1 – September 30. FY2025 ran October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025; FY2026 runs October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026; the ACFR covers FY2024, the year ended September 30, 2024.

Adopted vs. proposed. The FY2025-2026 Biennial Budget Book incorporates the adopted FY2025 budget and the proposed FY2026 budget. The book states that, under Georgia law requiring annual adoption, the second year of the biennial period is a recommendation only, and that an amended version of the FY2026 figures would be adopted in July 2025. FY2026 amounts on this page are therefore labeled "Proposed (as presented in the book)" rather than adopted.

Why the department breakdown is FY2025. The budget book's by-department matrix is presented for FY2025 appropriated operating funds only; no FY2026 by-department table appears in the book, so none is shown here. Shares in that section are computed from the book's own amounts against its FY2025 adopted total operating funds of $1,276,073,566.

Combined totals. Where a combined total is shown (for example, total budget = operating + capital), it is the sum of totals printed in the documents themselves, and the components are shown alongside it. The budget book describes the FY2025 adopted combined total as "just over $1.422 billion," consistent with the summed $1,422,773,068.

Sources

Both documents are published by Cobb County on its own asset host. No figure on this page comes from any other source.