Winder is the county seat of Barrow County, Georgia. Its fiscal year ends June 30. This page presents the city’s FY2025 adopted budget and its FY2024 audited financial results, exactly as published in the city’s own documents — with the conflicts between those documents disclosed rather than smoothed over.
The adopted budget for every city fund, from the Budget Book’s citywide table. All three columns foot exactly to the printed totals. The General Fund row uses the citywide-table basis of $22,083,832 — see Disclosure 1 for the conflicting $22,269,628 basis used in Section 2.
| Fund | Revenues | Other Financing Sources (Uses) | Expenditures |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Fund | $20,269,628 | $1,814,204 | $22,083,832 |
| Component Units | $0 | $0 | $13,500 |
| Rose Hill Cemetery | $74,000 | $43,865 | $117,865 |
| Police Confiscation | $10,000 | $0 | $62,837 |
| Events / Festivals Fund | $29,000 | $349,335 | $378,335 |
| American Rescue Plan | $5,000,000 | $0 | $5,000,000 |
| Library | $260,000 | $0 | $260,000 |
| CDBG | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Hotel / Motel | $290,400 | ($207,404) | $82,996 |
| SPLOST 2018 | $60,000 | $0 | $2,073,737 |
| SPLOST 2023 | $1,615,000 | $0 | $742,000 |
| SPLOST 2012 | $12,000 | $0 | $1,136,973 |
| GDOT / LMIG | $200,000 | $0 | $200,000 |
| TSPLOST 2023 | $2,985,000 | $0 | $2,542,086 |
| Governor’s Grant | $3,500,000 | $0 | $3,500,000 |
| Revenue Bond | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Water | $41,229,480 | $0 | $46,611,148 |
| Stormwater | $850,269 | $0 | $2,878,239 |
| Gas | $12,868,390 | $0 | $18,239,484 |
| Solid Waste Management | $2,950,629 | $0 | $2,629,868 |
| Special Facility | $42,600 | $0 | $786,900 |
| Golf | $1,999,356 | $0 | $1,908,874 |
| Utility Service | $1,095,361 | $0 | $1,095,361 |
| Totals — all funds | $95,341,113 | $2,000,000 | $112,344,035 |
Basis: citywide table, FY2025 Adopted Budget Book. Parentheses denote a negative other-financing use.
Total Governmental Funds. The source labels the opening balance “at 7/1/25.” The FY2025 budget assumes no use of General Fund reserves.
SourceCity of Winder — Adopted Budget Book FY2025 (Annual Budget, fiscal year ended 6.30.25), FY2025, adopted. Read the Budget Book (PDF)
The General Fund’s own summary tables in the Budget Book. These tables total $22,269,628 — not the $22,083,832 shown in the citywide table in Section 1. The $185,796 difference is explained in Disclosure 1; this section uses the General Fund tables’ own basis throughout.
| Department | Amount |
|---|---|
| Police | $6,123,250 |
| Fire | $5,025,941 |
| Public Works | $2,986,342 |
| Planning and Development | $1,683,736 |
| Administration | $1,117,845 |
| Finance | $1,033,612 |
| Technology Services | $928,392 |
| Legislative | $688,836 |
| General Government Buildings / Facilities | $608,911 |
| Communications / Marketing | $477,418 |
| Engineering | $328,862 |
| Human Resources | $319,547 |
| Municipal Court | $313,114 |
| Code Enforcement | $292,395 |
| GIS | $197,303 |
| Probation | $144,124 |
| Total | $22,269,628 |
| Revenue | Amount |
|---|---|
| Real & Personal Property Taxes | $4,145,000 |
| Local Option Sales Tax | $3,600,000 |
| Insurance Premium Tax | $1,700,000 |
| Building Permits and Inspections | $953,500 |
| Franchise Taxes — Electric | $925,000 |
SourceCity of Winder — Adopted Budget Book FY2025 (Annual Budget, fiscal year ended 6.30.25), General Fund summary tables, FY2025, adopted. Read the Budget Book (PDF)
The adopted capital program by funding source, totaling $42,497,849. Water and sewer capital — $23,000,146 — is more than half of the program.
SourceCity of Winder — Adopted Budget Book FY2025 (Annual Budget, fiscal year ended 6.30.25), capital program, FY2025, adopted. Read the Budget Book (PDF)
Audited results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, from the city’s Annual Financial Report. The auditor, Rushton LLC, issued unmodified opinions.
| Fund | Fund balance |
|---|---|
| General Fund (unassigned $5,612,801) | $6,169,859 |
| ARPA Grant | $266,002 |
| SPLOST 2022 | ($1,091,177) |
| Nonmajor Governmental Funds | $7,311,177 |
| Total governmental fund balances | $12,655,861 |
The SPLOST 2022 deficit is one of four deficit fund balances at June 30, 2024 — see Disclosure 4.
| Measure | Amount |
|---|---|
| General Fund revenues (actual) | $19,835,887 |
| General Fund expenditures (actual) | $18,809,360 |
| Net position — governmental activities | $33,402,663 |
| Net position — business-type activities | $146,920,491 |
| Total net position | $180,323,154 |
SourceCity of Winder, Georgia — Annual Financial Report, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 (auditor: Rushton LLC, unmodified opinions), FY2024, audited. Read the Annual Financial Report (PDF)
Long-term liabilities at June 30, 2024, from the audited Annual Financial Report. The Budget Book’s own debt summary table is not used here — see Disclosure 5.
| Liability | Amount |
|---|---|
| Notes from direct borrowings | $3,864,945 |
| Subscription payable | $102,360 |
| Compensated absences | $364,362 |
| Total — governmental | $4,331,667 |
| Liability | Amount |
|---|---|
| Revenue bonds | $5,993,000 |
| Notes from direct borrowings (incl. GEFA loans) | $11,899,436 |
| Leases payable | $141,014 |
| Compensated absences | $119,127 |
| Total — business-type | $18,152,577 |
The newest note — a $14,000,000 GEFA loan for the Highway 53 Water Treatment Plant — was still in drawdown at June 30, 2024, so only the drawn portion is included above.
Public Facilities Authority Taxable Refunding bonds — original issue $8,095,000, maturing December 1, 2029.
| Outstanding at June 30, 2024 | $5,993,000 |
| Total debt service to maturity | $6,257,199 |
| Measure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total assessed value | $849,005,315 |
| Debt limit (10% of assessed value) | $84,900,532 |
| General obligation debt applicable to the limit | $0 |
| Unused legal debt margin | $84,900,532 |
Basis: legal debt margin as presented in the FY2025 Adopted Budget Book.
Source — debt & liabilitiesCity of Winder, Georgia — Annual Financial Report, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, FY2024, audited. Read the Annual Financial Report (PDF)
Source — legal debt marginCity of Winder — Adopted Budget Book FY2025 (Annual Budget, fiscal year ended 6.30.25), FY2025, adopted. Read the Budget Book (PDF)
The city’s documents disagree with each other in several places. Where they do, this page shows both figures with their bases labeled, and says so here.
Two General Fund totals. The Budget Book’s citywide table and transmittal letter put the FY2025 General Fund budget at $22,083,832, but the General Fund’s own summary, function, and department tables all total $22,269,628 — a difference of $185,796. That difference equals the two General Fund transfers out named in the transmittal letter: $43,865 to Rose Hill Cemetery and $141,931 to Events/Festivals. Each table on this page carries the basis it uses; the book does not reconcile the two totals.
Conflicting growth claims. The transmittal letter calls the FY2025 total budget a 171.2% increase over FY2024, while the Budget Overview says 47.6%. Neither percentage is published here, because the FY2024 adopted total needed to resolve them is not stated in the documents.
SPLOST naming. The budget tables label the current SPLOST fund “SPLOST 2023,” the book’s fund-structure text says “2022 SPLOST,” and the audit’s major capital fund is “SPLOST 2022” — the same program under conflicting labels.
Deficit fund balances. At June 30, 2024 (audited), four funds were in deficit: SPLOST 2022 ($1,091,177); CDBG ($65,930); Library Assessment ($33,133); and Cemetery ($1,973). The City states it plans to liquidate the deficits through increased revenues in subsequent years. The FY2025 adopted budget also projects a negative SPLOST 2012 ending balance of ($156,155).
Budget Book debt table not used. The Budget Book’s debt summary table does not foot and conflicts with the audit. All debt figures on this page come from the audited Annual Financial Report instead.
Restated beginning balances. FY2024 beginning balances were restated for an error correction of ($65,974).
1. City of Winder — Adopted Budget Book FY2025 (Annual Budget, fiscal year ended 6.30.25) — FY2025, adopted.
cityofwinder.com — FY25 Budget Book (PDF)
2. City of Winder, Georgia — Annual Financial Report, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 — FY2024, audited (Rushton LLC, unmodified opinions).
cityofwinder.com — Annual Financial Report 2024 (PDF)
Official city website: www.cityofwinder.com