1. GENERAL FUND (43.4% of expenditures)
The General Fund is the County’s primary operating fund. It accounts for most of the the County’s activities; it derives a large portion of its revenues from property tax and charges for services, and spends resources on most County departments, chief among them are the Sheriff, Emergency Medical Services, Public Works, Culture and Recreation, Planning and the Courts.
The criteria for determining whether an activity is accounted for in the General Fund is simply that the activity is not required to be accounted for and reported under any other fund. Thus, the General Fund acts as a catch-all for any activity that cannot be placed in a different fund. Additionally, Georgia state law requires the County to maintain a balanced budget for the General Fund and therefore, the General Fund is subject to annual appropriation by the governing body.
Since the resources of the General Fund are not typically restricted to specific purposes, they may be accumulated in the form of a fund balance (assets exceeding liabilities) for “rainy day” events such as emergencies, catastrophes, or other unforeseen demands. The County’s fiscal policy is to maintain a healthy fund balance whereby citizens are guarded against the financial strains of fluctuating revenues caused by changes in economic conditions, unexpected service needs or disruption in the event of unexpected natural or man-made disasters.
2. SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS (12.5% of expenditures)
The Special Revenue Funds are those whose revenue sources are legally restricted or committed to expenditure for specific purposes, other than debt service or capital projects. In Georgia, local governments are legally required to establish special funds for E-911 activities. Other Special Revenue Funds maintained by Bulloch County include the Airport, Statesboro Fire District, Rural Fire District, Drug Education, Accountability Court, Jail Add-on Fee, Juvenile Services, Street Lighting District, Tourism, Grants and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Additionally, the Sheriff and Correctional Institute have discretionary funds such as Inmate Phone funds, Commissary funds, Forfeiture, Seized Assets,and Employee Benefit funds.
3. CAPITAL PROJECTS FUNDS (34.7% of expenditures)
Capital Projects Funds must be used when resources are legally mandated or otherwise restricted, committed or assigned by regulations or covenants to expenditure for capital outlays, including the acquisition or construction of capital facilities and other capital assets but exclude those outlays that are financed by proprietary funds or for assets held in trust under fiduciary funds. For more information on the definition of a capital asset, see the glossary in this document.
Bulloch County’s primary funding source for the acquisition and construction of capital facilities and assets for numerous years has been the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), which has been approved by its citizens since 1997, though they also approved the issuance of general obligation bonds in 2012 and 2019. Citizens approved an additional sales tax specifically for Transportation, or T-SPLOST, in May 2018. The Capital Improvement Plan section of this budget shows some of the projects scheduled for the next five years. When comparing expenditures between years, figures vary greatly due to the number and timing of projects appropriated.
4. ENTERPRISE FUND (2.8% of expenditures)
Enterprise Funds are used to account for business-type activities of the government whereby goods or services are provided to customers external to the government, and where the activity is financed with debt that is secured solely from the revenues of the activity or where the user fees and charges are sufficient to cover the costs of providing the goods or services, including related capital costs such as depreciation or debt service. In other words, the activity is to be self-supporting.
While other governments may have Enterprise Funds for water, gas, and electricity, the County’s sole Enterprise Fund is for Splash in the ‘Boro Water Park. Revenues in this fund consist of user’s admission to the water park, rental of facilities or equipment not included in the cost of admission, retail goods from the gift shop such as personal protective products like sunscreen, lip balm or sunglasses, and concessions.
In the past, Splash revenues have been sufficient to cover all capital and operating costs, including depreciation and debt service, and to accumulate a fund balance. However, in recent years, due to much larger facility expansion and consequently, increased debt service and depreciation expense of the new assets, revenues have not covered all costs. Due to COVID-19 concerns, SPLASH did not open for the 2020 summer season, which greatly hurt the fund’s financial position. Although depreciation is not an expense for which cash must be paid, it is still included in the budget for this fund to aid staff in long term planning. During FY 2022, the County allocated a portion of the local fiscal recovery funding received from the American Rescue Plan Act to replace revenue lost during the pandemic. It is the County’s hope that patron attendance will continue to increase, thus boosting revenues once again to a level sufficient to cover all costs. However, if this does not happen, the County may need to borrow funds in the future to replace depreciated assets.
5. INTERNAL SERVICE FUNDS (6.6% of expenditures)
Internal Service Funds are used to account for business-type activities of the government whereby goods or services are provided to customers internal to the government, such as other funds, departments, or agencies of the government on a cost-reimbursem*nt basis. In other words, the goal of the fund over time is to generate revenues in the form of user fees and charges that are sufficient to cover the costs of providing the goods or services to break-even, but not
make a profit.
The County has four Internal Service Funds to accumulate revenue and expenditures relating to Employee Health Insurance, Correctional Food Service, Public Safety Radio System maintenance, and Workers Compensation claims since the County moved to a large deductible plan. The charges associated with these funds are assessed based upon the usage of the Insurance, Food Services and Radio units that each fund, department or agency uses. Since the General Fund accounts for most of the County’s personnel costs, most of the incoming revenue for the Employee Health Insurance and the Workers Compensation Insurance fund is from the General Fund. Similarly, since the County Jail and the Correctional Institute are accounted for in the General Fund, the only revenue into the Food Service fund is from the General Fund. The Radio Fund is a multi-jurisdicational system that will be funded from user fees from State, Educational and other local governments.
