Peach State Pulse
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City of Dalton, Georgia

The city’s adopted budget and audited finances, drawn from Dalton’s own published 2026 Adopted Budgets and Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

County seat of Whitfield County · Fiscal year January 1 – December 31 · Part of the Peach State Pulse network

General Fund budget
$49,820,000
FY2026 · Adopted
Balanced with an $805,000 utilization of fund balance: revenues and other sources of $49,015,000 plus an $805,000 draw on reserves.
General Fund fund balance
$27,940,272
FY2025 · Audited
At December 31, 2025; of which $26,345,392 is unassigned.
Governmental activities net position
$154,347,903
FY2025 · Audited
Governmental debt principal
$15,775,000
FY2025 · Audited
A lease obligation for Building Authority Revenue Bonds Series 2021. The city has no general obligation bonds.
Population
35,322
FY2025 · Estimate
ACFR demographic schedule; U.S. Census Bureau.

FY2026 adopted budget — General Fund

Adopted by the Mayor and Council on November 17, 2025. The document’s cover reads “2026 APPROVED BUDGET” and its schedules are labeled “2026 Adopted Budget.” The $49,820,000 budget is balanced with an $805,000 utilization of fund balance — a draw on reserves disclosed here and in the headline figure above.

Revenues by source

Taxes$25,730,000Property taxes $9,100,000 + other taxes $16,630,000.
Charges for services$1,840,000
Intergovernmental$835,000
Fines and forfeitures$710,000
Investment income$700,000
Licenses and permits$431,000
Miscellaneous$368,000
Total revenues$30,614,000

Other financing sources

Transfers in$18,376,000
Utility transfer$15,550,000
DWRSWMS transfer$2,000,000
Hotel-Motel tax fund$826,000
Proceeds from sale of capital assets$25,000
Total other financing sources$18,401,000
Total revenues & other sources$49,015,000
Utilization of fund balance$805,000
Total General Fund budget$49,820,000

Expenditures by department

Fire$13,178,000
Police$13,155,000
Public Works$9,414,000
Recreation$5,481,000
Debt Service$1,188,000
Information Technology$1,154,000
Administrative$1,090,000
Finance$959,000
Municipal Court (Judicial)$744,000
Non-Departmental$508,000
Human Resources$495,000
City Clerk$477,000
Building & Grounds$416,000
Code Compliance$293,000
Payments to Other Agencies — Recreation & Culture$289,000
Legislative$175,000
Payments to Other Agencies — Housing & Development$90,000
Infrastructure$10,000
Payments to Other Agencies — Health & Welfare$1,000
Elections$0
Total expenditures$49,117,000
Transfers out$703,000
Total expenditures & transfers out$49,820,000

Expenditures by classification

Personal services & benefits$37,505,000
Purchased & contracted services$5,528,000
Supplies & operating charges$4,380,000
Debt service$1,188,000
Payments to others$380,000
Contingency$100,000
Capital outlay$36,000
Total$49,117,000

Note: the budget document’s second classification table splits the same $49,117,000 slightly differently line-by-line; both presentations total $49,117,000.

Source: City of Dalton — 2026 Adopted Budgets (FY2026, adopted November 17, 2025).

Other funds & agency allocations

FY2026 adopted figures for the city’s other budgeted funds. The 2015, 2020, and 2024 SPLOST funds, the 2021 Bonded Capital Projects fund, and the Capital Grants fund are multiyear budgets and are not adopted annually. The source publishes no all-funds FY2026 grand total, so none is shown.

Capital projects & capital improvements

Capital Projects — Amendment to 2024 SPLOST: expenditures$703,000
Funded by transfers in$703,000
Capital Improvements: revenues$15,000
Capital Improvements: expenditures$40,000
Capital Improvements: sale of assets$25,000

Special revenue funds — revenues / expenditures

Hotel/Motel Tax$2,110,000 / $1,284,000
Plus $826,000 transferred to the General Fund
CDBG Grant Fund$315,000 / $315,000
Economic Development$183,000 / $183,000
Confiscated Assets$83,000 / $88,000
Opioid Settlement Fund$56,000 / $56,000

Each special revenue fund nets to a $0 change in fund balance.

Agency allocations by fund

General Fund agencies$380,000
Economic Development Fund$182,500
Hotel-Motel Tax Fund$1,244,525

Footnote: the budget document’s printed combined total ($1,782,025) understates the sum of its own subtotals ($1,807,025) by $25,000; the subtotals are shown instead, with no combined total.

Source: City of Dalton — 2026 Adopted Budgets (FY2026, adopted November 17, 2025).

FY2025 audited actuals — General Fund

Audited results for the year ended December 31, 2025. The General Fund’s net change in fund balance was +$159,405. Across all governmental funds, total revenues were $49,639,336 and total expenditures were $80,509,952.

Revenues

Taxes$24,561,232
Charges for services$1,854,637
Investment earnings$1,008,466
Intergovernmental — state$991,166
Fines and forfeitures$905,988
Miscellaneous$657,653
Licenses and permits$444,138
Intergovernmental — local$110,800
Intergovernmental — federal$21,145
Total revenues$30,555,225

Expenditures

Public safety$23,457,420
Public works$8,591,229
Culture and recreation$4,912,220
General government$4,443,904
Housing and development$2,219,434
Judicial$683,671
Capital outlay$128,134
Health and welfare$25,600
Total expenditures$44,461,612

Fund balances at December 31, 2025

General Fund$27,940,272Of which $26,345,392 is unassigned.
Other Governmental Funds$25,750,758Includes restricted SPLOST capital projects of $23,685,312.
Combined governmental fund balances$53,691,030

Government-wide — governmental activities

Net position$154,347,903
Net investment in capital assets$134,915,152
Restricted$13,971,870
Unrestricted$5,460,881
Total revenues$50,767,773
Total expenses$51,694,248

Budget vs. actual, FY2025

Revenues — original budget$30,097,000
Revenues — actual$30,555,225
Expenditures — final budget$45,799,000
Expenditures — actual$44,461,612

Source: City of Dalton, Georgia — Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, For the Year Ended December 31, 2025 (FY2025, audited).

Debt & long-term liabilities

FY2025, audited. The City of Dalton has no general obligation bonds. Its governmental debt is a single lease obligation backing Building Authority Revenue Bonds, Series 2021 (par $18,360,000), with final maturity in 2041.

Lease obligation — principal outstanding$15,775,000
Total remaining debt service$19,031,150
Final maturity2041

Governmental long-term obligations

Leases payable$15,775,000
Unamortized premium$1,571,222
Compensated absences$6,051,695
Total governmental long-term obligations$23,397,917
Net pension liability (governmental, shown separately)$3,379,529
Net OPEB liability (governmental, shown separately)$8,589,824

The $23,397,917 total excludes the net pension and net OPEB liabilities, which the ACFR reports separately.

Source: City of Dalton, Georgia — Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, For the Year Ended December 31, 2025 (FY2025, audited).

Sidebar — Dalton Utilities

Dalton Utilities is reported in the ACFR as the business-type activities of the primary government. These figures are not part of the city’s operating budget above.

Combined Utilities Revenue Bonds — principal outstanding$123,580,000
Business-type net position$1,125,262,887
Business-type charges for services (FY2025)$309,588,650
Total primary-government net position (includes Dalton Utilities)$1,279,610,790

Source: City of Dalton, Georgia — Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, For the Year Ended December 31, 2025 (FY2025, audited), business-type activities.

Notes & disclosures

Read these before quoting a figure — they record where the city’s own documents differ, and which figures this page shows.

  1. Dalton Utilities is not the city operating budget. The Dalton Utilities figures in the sidebar come from the ACFR’s business-type activities and are not city operating-budget figures. Dalton Utilities and the Dalton Board of Education publish separate reports, which were not used for this dashboard.
  2. Agency allocations: subtotals only. The budget document’s printed combined agency total ($1,782,025) understates the sum of its own subtotals ($1,807,025) by $25,000, so this page shows the three fund subtotals and no combined total.
  3. Two classification presentations. The budget document’s second classification table splits the same $49,117,000 of General Fund expenditures slightly differently line-by-line; both presentations total $49,117,000.
  4. FY2025 comparatives differ between documents. The 2026 budget document’s “2025 Adopted” expenditure comparative ($45,680,000) differs from the ACFR’s FY2025 original budget ($44,492,000) because the budget document restates comparatives for nondepartmental allocations and debt-service-fund elimination. The revenue comparatives agree at $30,097,000.
  5. The FY2026 budget draws on reserves. The adopted General Fund budget uses an $805,000 utilization of fund balance to balance revenues and other sources of $49,015,000 against the $49,820,000 total.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of these City of Dalton documents.

City of Dalton — 2026 Adopted Budgets
FY2026 adopted budgets — General Fund revenues, other financing sources, expenditures by department and classification, other funds, special revenue funds, and agency allocations. Adopted by the Mayor and Council November 17, 2025.
Open document → City of Dalton, Georgia — Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, For the Year Ended December 31, 2025
FY2025 ACFR, audited — General Fund actuals, fund balances, government-wide net position, budget vs. actual, debt and long-term liabilities, Dalton Utilities business-type activities, and the population estimate.
Open document → City of Dalton — official website
daltonga.gov — the city’s official site, publisher of both source documents.
Visit site →