Proposed Cobb fiscal year 2026 budget to be presented

The proposed Cobb government fiscal year 2026 budget will be formally proposed Tuesday.

The $1.4 billion proposed spending package will be outlined to the Cobb Board of Commissioners at a work session that begins at 1:30 p.m. in the second floor board room of the county office building at 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta.

You can view the full agenda by clicking here; you also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

According to a budget overview (you can read it here) as of late March, there’s a projected general fund budget of $7 million.

That shortfall includes $2 million “in budget recommendations but does not account for new positions or additional requests beyond those recommendations. This projection is subject to change as more financial data becomes finalized.”

That’s the latest update the county has provided at on its budget page. You can find more budget details at this link.

The budget office laid out several recommendations in the overview to balance the general fund budget:

• Keep the rate of Cobb water department revenues transferred to the general fund at the present five percent ($2.3 million) instead of reducing it to four percent;
• Shift 0.o5 mills from the Cobb Fire Fund—which pays for fire and emergency services—to the general fund ($2.2 million);
• Cut $1 million in police and sheriff’s overtime budgets;
• Cut the $1 million budgeted in a contingency fund for each of the five commissioners, who are allotted $200,000 each to spend as they see fit;
• Increase the general fund millage rate.

In March, Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann briefed commissioners on an additional $92.7 million in spending requests from county department heads above the current FY 2025 budget of $1.27 billion. Of that, roughly half, or $624.8 million, comes from the general fund.

A total of $74.3 million in requested new spending would come from the general fund, much of that for additional positions in the Cobb Sheriff’s Office and Cobb Police Department—a total of 290 new public safety positions in all.

The budget process—the final package must be passed by the end of July—also comes as the Cobb tax digest is projected to grow by only 2 percent in 2025, which is down from 8.52 percent last year.

For the last two years, commissioners have adopted budgets of $1.2 billion and $1.27 billion, largely due to significant increases in the county tax digest.

But commissioners have come under fire from citizens both years for not “rolling back” the property tax rate to offset the additional revenues (the general fund millage rate has stood at 8.46 mills).

They will be under considerable pressure to hold the line on the tax burden while adjusting to a different fiscal environment, and with additional spending requests and rising costs for employee salaries and benefits.

At the March work session, Commissioner Keli Gambrill said that “this is quite a big budget request.”

The FY 2026 budget is the second of a two-year “biennial” budget process. The overview details the differences between adopted FY 2025 spending and what is being projected, or $6.9 million less. That figure includes the tax digest projection and the five-percent water transfer rate.

The overview states that since the FY budget adoption last summer, there has been a $16 million increase in personnel costs, and $11 million in budgeted capital expenses has been been cut.

Another $1.56 million in funds earmarked as contingency for the upcoming Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Truist Park also has been removed.

The updated general fund budget (as of March 25) shows $644 million in expenses, and $637 million in projected revenues, with the increases also being attributed to rising costs for employee benefits plans and pension funds.

Increases in public safety staffing has been one of the top priorities of the current biennial budget.

The finance office noted in its proposed recommendation to shift some of the fire fund millage rate to the general fund that the fire fund currently has a $10 million surplus. A total of 26 fire positions have been filled in the past year, 76 vacancies remain.

The Sheriff’s Office is seeking 113 new positions and the Police Department is asking for 17 new full-time positions.

The water transfers have been the process of being reduced in recent years from a high of 10 percent by one percent a year.

Public hearings on the budget proposal and county millage rates will take place on July 8, 15 and 22, with adoption scheduled for the latter date.

Also at Tuesday’s work session, commissioners will be given an annual update on finances associated with Truist Park and The Battery.