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City of Tifton Pulse

City of Tifton, Georgia — FY2024 audited financial results and the FY2025 approved budget. Tifton carries no bonds at all: its borrowed debt is a $4,444,000 certificate of participation and a $1,969,653 GEFA loan, while most of its $22.9 million in long-term liabilities are pension and landfill obligations, not debt.

Headline figures

FY2024 audited unless noted.

Total net position

$135,423,438

Governmental activities $73,017,974 · Business-type activities $62,405,464

Governmental fund balances

$42,584,682

Across all governmental funds, FY2024

General Fund balance

$16,460,785

Of which unassigned $15,665,393

Governmental revenues

$32,324,526

Fund basis, FY2024

Governmental expenditures

$26,445,104

Fund basis, FY2024

Bonds payable

The city has no bonds and no general obligation debt

FY2025 approved budget

$80,287,336

All funds · General Fund $20,423,307

Source: City of Tifton FY2024 Annual Financial Report (audited by Mauldin & Jenkins); City of Tifton FY2025 Approved Budget, approved June 17, 2024.

FY2025 Approved Budget

Every figure in this section: FY2025 Approved Budget — approved June 17, 2024.

Budget by fund — total $80,287,336

Capital / Grants / Special Revenue$33,865,922

Enterprise Funds$24,791,076

General Fund$20,423,307

Other Funds$1,207,031

Fund	FY2025 Approved Budget
General Fund	$20,423,307
Enterprise Funds	$24,791,076
Water	$8,202,643
Sewer	$6,179,938
Gas	$5,415,876
Solid Waste Collection & Disposal / Landfill	$4,992,619
Capital, Grants and Special Revenue Funds	$33,865,922
Multiple Grant	$10,776,892
SPLOST VI	$8,611,500
ARPA	$4,075,751
Hotel/Motel Tax	$2,894,284
SPLOST VII (new)	$2,200,000
SPLOST V	$1,636,500
SPLOST	$1,130,000
TSPLOST	$1,129,200
CDBG	$790,945
Capital Projects	$620,850
Other Funds	$1,207,031
Customer Service	$576,959
Tift Theatre	$528,472
Opioid Settlement	$51,600
Confiscated Assets	$50,000
Total — all funds	$80,287,336

Every fund is budgeted balanced. Budgeted revenues — including use of fund balance and other financing sources — equal budgeted expenditures in each fund. Other financing sources are $26,293,168 of the $80,287,336 total (33%), including SPLOST VI use of fund balance $6,411,500, ARPA use of fund balance $3,920,751, and Water Fund balance use $3,567,425.

General Fund revenues by source — total $20,423,307

Source	Amount
Taxes	$13,112,420
Other Financing Sources	$5,031,534
Investment Income	$576,599
Fines & Forfeitures	$523,052
Licenses & Permits	$492,977
Charges for Services	$433,310
Intergovernmental	$170,635
Miscellaneous	$80,780
Contributions & Donations	$2,000
Total General Fund revenues	$20,423,307

Tax detail — total $13,112,420

Tax	Amount
Local Option Sales Tax	$4,080,000
Property Tax	$4,060,000
Insurance Premium Tax	$1,550,000
Franchise Fees	$1,343,000
Occupational Taxes	$842,000
Alcoholic Beverage Taxes	$579,000
Ad Valorem (motor vehicle / TAVT etc.)	$509,000
Other Taxes	$149,420
Total taxes	$13,112,420

General Fund expenditures by department — total $20,423,307

Department	Amount
Police	$6,308,628
Fire	$3,747,881
Public Works	$2,271,353
ESG Operations–Street	$1,904,290
General Government Admin	$1,036,050
Community Development	$791,005
Finance	$605,692
Management Information Systems	$586,535
Financial Dept–Gen	$500,432
Senior Citizens Center	$340,332
ESG Shop	$287,536
Municipal Court	$252,900
Human Resources	$216,506
Main Street	$209,447
ESG Operations–Cemetery	$202,912
Other Financing Uses	$191,646
City Clerk	$177,784
Council	$144,165
ESG Operations–Building Maintenance	$144,096
Management	$114,892
Tourism & Economic Development	$97,364
Urban Redevelopment / Community Improvement	$97,208
Marketing & Communications	$92,689
Building Maintenance	$68,082
Shop	$28,500
Cemetery	$5,382
Total General Fund expenditures	$20,423,307

Disclosure: the budget book's General Fund by-function table lines sum to $20,423,308 — $1 more than its printed total of $20,423,307. The department table above foots exactly and is the one shown; totals are printed as-is.

Source: City of Tifton FY2025 Approved Budget — approved June 17, 2024. All figures in this section are from that document.

FY2024 Audited Results

Auditor: Mauldin & Jenkins — unmodified opinions. Audit findings: financial, federal, and prior-year findings all “None noted.”

Governmental revenues by source (fund basis)

Source	Amount
Intergovernmental	$12,194,069
Taxes	$10,740,548
Sales taxes	$4,247,682
Other revenues	$1,979,516
Interest	$1,883,423
Fines & forfeitures	$445,116
Licenses & permits	$438,287
Charges for services	$395,885
Total	$32,324,526

Governmental expenditures by function (fund basis)

Function	Amount
Public safety	$9,349,759
General government	$7,298,161
Capital outlay	$3,974,031
Public works	$2,916,848
Culture & recreation	$1,235,985
Housing & development	$955,412
Health & welfare	$315,175
Judicial	$239,758
Debt service — interest	$159,975
Total	$26,445,104

Two different sales taxes. The General Fund's $4,247,682 of sales taxes is the city's own Local Option Sales Tax. The SPLOST VI Fund's $4,226,221 of intergovernmental revenue is the county-remitted SPLOST share. They are two different taxes, reported in two different places.

Fund balances by fund — total $42,584,682

Fund	Fund balance
General	$16,460,785
SPLOST VI	$13,847,203
Nonmajor (detail below)	$12,165,495
ARPA	$111,199
Total governmental fund balances	$42,584,682

Fund balance classifications

Classification	Amount
Restricted for capital outlay	$22,036,429
Unassigned (General Fund)	$15,665,393
Restricted for tourism	$3,866,544
Nonspendable (prepaids)	$795,392
Restricted for public safety	$220,924
Total	$42,584,682

Nonmajor funds detail — total $12,165,495

Fund	Balance
Hotel/Motel Tax	$3,866,544
Capital Projects	$2,852,450
SPLOST V	$1,566,841
TSPLOST	$1,321,849
Multiple Grant	$1,222,107
SPLOST	$1,114,780
Confiscated Assets	$138,708
Opioid Settlement	$82,216
Total nonmajor	$12,165,495

General Fund budget vs. actual — FY2024

Item	Original budget	Final budget	Actual
Revenues	$16,532,950	$16,682,950	$16,990,620
Expenditures	$19,473,370	$19,719,760	$17,026,577

Expenditures came in $2,693,183 under the final budget.
Transfers in (actual): $2,817,575 · Transfers out: $276,660 · Net change in fund balance: +$2,504,958 · Ending fund balance: $16,460,785.
Fines & forfeitures came in $450,929 under budget — $389,571 actual vs. $840,500 budgeted.
Interest revenue beat budget by $416,624.
Largest unspent amounts vs. final budget: highways & streets $1,220,999 and police $888,429.

Proprietary (enterprise) funds — FY2024

Fund	Operating revenues	Operating income (loss)	Net position
Water	$4,173,952	$660,825	$26,231,856
Sewer	$5,622,077	$1,107,030	$18,609,547
Gas	$4,886,674	$1,321,376	$10,718,224
Solid Waste	$4,089,768	($723,618)	$5,850,697
Tift Theatre	$192,100	($159,440)	$995,140
Total	$18,964,571	—	$62,405,464

Source: City of Tifton FY2024 Annual Financial Report, audited by Mauldin & Jenkins (unmodified opinions; findings — financial, federal, and prior-year — all “None noted”).

Debt & Long-Term Obligations

FY2024 audited.

Bonds payable: $0. The city has no general obligation bonds and no revenue bonds. Its legal debt margin is $38.7 million on the 2023 gross digest — unused.

Read the $22.9 million total correctly. Total long-term liabilities are $22,910,177 — but that total is mostly pension and landfill obligations, not bonded debt. Actual borrowed debt is $6,413,653: the $4,444,000 certificates of participation plus the $1,969,653 GEFA note.

Obligation	Amount	Terms
Bonds payable	$0	No general obligation bonds; no revenue bonds
Certificates of participation (governmental)	$4,444,000	City's share of the 1998 Georgia Municipal Association lease pool; 4.75%; entire principal is a single lump-sum payment due June 1, 2028, with annual interest-only payments of $211,090; total remaining debt service $5,288,360; backed by an interest-rate swap (fair value $223,639 asset, maturing June 1, 2028)
GEFA Clean Water SRF note (business-type)	$1,969,653	0.94%; monthly installments of $9,145 through 2044; financed rehabilitation of the water pollution control plant and pump stations
Actual borrowed debt	$6,413,653	Certificates of participation + GEFA note
Net pension liability	$2,541,445	Governmental $2,077,908 + business-type $463,537; City of Tifton Retirement Plan through GMEBS; measured September 30, 2023; city contributions FY2024 $1,350,950
Landfill closure / postclosure care liability	$13,553,219	Phase 1 postclosure $959,850 + Phase 3 $12,593,369; a further $1,397,942 will be recognized as remaining capacity fills
Compensated absences	$401,860	—
Total long-term liabilities	$22,910,177	Mostly pension and landfill obligations — not bonded debt

No OPEB liability is reported in the FY2024 AFR. The certificates of participation are lease-pool obligations — they are not bonds, and are not described as bonds anywhere on this page.

Source: City of Tifton FY2024 Annual Financial Report, audited by Mauldin & Jenkins.

Sources & Notes

Documents used — and nothing else.

City of Tifton FY2024 Annual Financial Report — audited by Mauldin & Jenkins; unmodified opinions; findings (financial, federal, prior-year) all “None noted.”
City of Tifton FY2025 Approved Budget — approved June 17, 2024.

Disclosures

The Downtown Development Authority is a discretely presented component unit (net position $3,639,866) and is not included in the city totals above.
The AFR's MD&A rounds the combined governmental fund balance to “$42.7 million” and the General Fund unassigned balance to “$15.8 million”; the audited statements — $42,584,682 and $15,665,393 — are used here.
The budget book's comparison table heads its FY2025 column “Proposed” even though it is the budget approved June 17, 2024; it is labeled Approved here.
The FY2025 budget book's Tift Theatre summary page mislabels its total line “Total Revenues - Solid Waste Fund”; the figures are the Theatre Fund's.
Figures were extracted from the source PDFs during a University of Georgia TED portal outage and are flagged for spot re-verification when the portal recovers.
The budget book's General Fund by-function table lines sum to $20,423,308, $1 more than its printed total of $20,423,307; the department table (which foots exactly) is shown, and totals are printed as-is.

Sources: City of Tifton FY2024 Annual Financial Report (Mauldin & Jenkins); City of Tifton FY2025 Approved Budget, approved June 17, 2024.