Carroll County finance director reports March shortfall, SPLOST outlays

Alicia Searcy, Carroll County finance director, presented the March 31, 2026 financial report and told commissioners the county had recorded $72,526,000 in revenue year‑to‑date and $65,000,033 in expenditures.

"We ended the month with, dollars 72,526,000 in revenue," Searcy said, and she noted the county had realized about 84.8% of its expected revenue and 76.1% of its expenditures through nine months. Searcy told the board the county was roughly $12,000,000 short of the adopted budget at this point in the fiscal year and that the fund balance stood at $54,657,000, about $2,000,000 lower than the same time last year.

Searcy also walked commissioners through recent SPLOST and capital disbursements: roughly $373,000 on the Admin Building, $171,000 for a new jail camera system, $168,006.92 for road material and four mowers, and $34,000 associated with the solid‑waste facility; she summarized total SPLOST project payouts of about $881,000 and SPLOST receipts of $2,662,000 plus approximately $350,000 in investment earnings. She said the county moved $2,338,000 from the capital projects fund to SPLOST to cover a recreation‑lighting project going forward.

A commissioner asked whether intergovernmental revenues — grants and payments from other governments — would continue to come in over the next three months. Searcy said some judicial ARPA payments had been slow but that the county recently received a catch‑up check of about $180,000 covering amounts through December.

Searcy told the board she did not see any spending that appeared "out of line" and that department heads were managing budgets closely. With no further questions, commissioners agreed to include routine budget and financial items on the upcoming consent agenda for the May 5 meeting.

The county will advertise the larger fiscal‑year budget for public review; commissioners were told the board will vote on the budget at the June meeting.