A budget is just a plan for money. You probably have one of your own — even if you don't write it down. You know roughly how much comes in (your paycheck), and you have a rough idea where it goes (rent, groceries, gas, savings, fun money).
A county budget works the same way. Macon-Bibb County brings in money from taxes and fees, and the budget is the plan for where every dollar goes — police, fire, parks, courts, and dozens of other things the county does.
Once a year, the Mayor — working with the county's budget and finance staff — writes the proposed budget and presents it to the nine elected Commissioners, who can change it before taking a final vote. It takes 6 of the 9 to pass. (The Mayor can also veto individual line items, and it takes 6 votes to override.) After it passes, that plan becomes law for one year — what the county calls its fiscal year, or "budget year." Macon-Bibb's budget year runs from July 1 to June 30.
The FY27 budget, adopted
On May 19, Mayor Lester Miller presented his proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget to the Commission. After a public hearing on June 2, the Commission adopted it unanimously on June 16, 2026 — with no changes to the Mayor's recommended figures. The headline numbers:
- $221.5 million in, $221.5 million out — balanced, as required by state law.
- No property tax rate increase. The millage rate stays at 9.575, the same as this year.
- $1.7 million more than the FY26 budget.
- The Mayor asked every department except public safety to find 10% in cuts.
Two votes, not one. Adopting the budget did not lock in your tax rate. Commissioners passed the budget on June 16; they set the actual millage (property tax) rate in a separate vote later in the summer — usually August, after the county finishes tallying what local property is worth.
Where it grows: public safety gets a $3.6 million boost. The Sheriff's Office alone is up $3.4M, to $61.5M. IT rises about half a million to $9.1M; Recreation gets roughly $250,000 more, for an $8M budget.
Where it shrinks: Courts lose about $302,000, and Parks & Beautification drops by about $392,000 to $4.3M.
You can see every department's number, side by side, on the Budget Tracker.
Where the money comes from
Almost every dollar in Macon-Bibb's everyday budget comes from one of two places:
- Taxes
- property tax, sales tax, and other smaller taxes. Together they're about 9 out of every 10 dollars.
- Fees and charges
- building permits, business licenses, court fines, fees for specific services, rent on county property, and a little interest the county earns on money it's holding.
You're already paying into it. If you own a home, your property tax bill helps fund the budget. Every time you buy something in the county, a few cents of sales tax does too.
What's a millage rate? A "mill" is $1 of tax for every $1,000 your property is worth on the tax rolls — and in Georgia, the rolls only count 40% of a home's market value. Macon-Bibb's rate is 9.575, down from 20.331 in 2021 — a cut of about 53%, five years running.
What's in the 8% sales tax? It breaks down as 4% state + 1% LOST + 1% ELOST (schools) + 1% SPLOST (capital projects only) + 1% OLOST. That last penny, OLOST, is what let the county slash property taxes — the county says more than 70% of it is paid by people who don't live in Macon-Bibb.
Where it goes
This is what the Budget Tracker shows. The biggest slice — almost half of every dollar — goes to public safety: the Sheriff's Office, the Fire Department, and emergency services. Another big chunk goes to general government (the offices that actually run the county: finance, IT, elections, tax offices, the Mayor's office) and to the courts.
The rest is split among parks, infrastructure, health and welfare programs, economic development, and transfers to other funds. Every department has its own line in the budget, and every line adds up to the total.
There's also a second set of money — grants, the 1-cent sales tax for special projects (SPLOST), the airport, and other special-purpose funds. The Budget Tracker calls this "Set-aside funds," and it nearly doubles the total. We separate it because most of it can only be spent on a specific thing, so it doesn't compete with the everyday budget.
Do I get a say?
Yes — more than you might think. The FY27 budget is adopted, but the year it pays for is just beginning — and the tax-rate vote is still ahead.
- Show up for the millage vote. The budget is set, but the millage (property tax) rate is a separate decision later this summer — usually August. That's the vote that determines what you actually pay. The Commission meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Government Center, 700 Poplar St. It's open to anyone and you can speak — sign up in advance. One heads-up: general (non-agenda) public comment is no longer livestreamed, so residents who want to be heard on the broadcast often sign up under a related agenda item instead.
- Talk to your Commissioner. They're the ones who voted on it — and who'll vote on the millage rate. You can find yours on the Districts page.
- Read the agenda. The budget showed up on commission agendas multiple times before the June 16 vote, and county spending keeps coming back all year. Follow it on the Commission tracker, read the full budget at maconbibb.us/proposedfy27budget, or browse official agendas on the CivicClerk portal.
- Vote. The people who write and approve the budget all stand for election. The Mayor, the Commissioners — they answer to you at the ballot box.
The penny idea
Macon-Bibb's everyday budget is about $221 million. That number is too big to picture.
So we did the math for you: we broke every dollar into 100 pennies and colored each one by what it pays for. 44 pennies of every dollar go to public safety. 22 pennies go to running the county. 12 pennies go to the courts. The remaining 22 pennies cover everything else combined — parks, roads, health programs, economic development, and money moved to other funds.
You may also hear the Mayor say public safety is 57% of the budget — more than the 44 pennies you see here. Both can be true: the county counts public safety in a bigger bucket (about $125.8 million) than our chart does. Add these 44 pennies to the 12 for courts and you land right around his 57%.
If you can read a dollar bill, you can read the county budget. That's the whole idea.
One thing to watch
The county still hasn't published an audit for Fiscal Year 2025. Under state law, municipalities are supposed to file one within 180 days of the fiscal year closing — but Macon-Bibb has missed that deadline every year since 2022, according to data from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
In plain English: the FY27 budget was proposed, debated, and adopted before the public could see the audited results of FY25. We'll be watching.
FY27 budget documents — Macon-Bibb County.
FY27 totals, the millage history, the public-safety share, and the overdue FY25 audit — The Macon Melody.
How OLOST shifts the tax burden ("more than 70% of the penny is paid for by people who do not live in Macon-Bibb") — Macon-Bibb County.
Who writes and votes on the budget — the mayor submits it, six of nine commissioners must approve it, and the mayor has a line-item veto — Macon-Bibb County Charter.
The county's posted annual audits — Macon-Bibb County.
Agendas and meeting materials — CivicClerk portal.