Follow the public money.

The adopted budget at a glance.

The General Fund is $11,647,061 larger than FY2026 adopted, a 0.7% nominal increase from $1,687,985,880. This compares spending plans, not actual spending or inflation-adjusted growth.

Where does the General Fund go?

All 33 rows shown. FY2027 adopted total: $1,699,632,941.

Sort by a heading. Scroll sideways for all years on smaller screens. Change compares FY2026 adopted with FY2027 adopted; search changes only the displayed subtotal.

Largest dollar changes.

These are changes in budget lines, not an explanation of their causes. Service changes, one-time spending, staffing, outside revenue and accounting can all matter. Use the department narratives before drawing a conclusion about service or efficiency.

Official department books and adopted budget decisions

Where the money comes from.

The categories above follow the appropriations-resolution summary (PDF page 4). They total the General Fund budget. Prior-year balance uses previously accumulated resources; it is not a recurring tax stream. Shares may not total exactly 100% because of rounding.

The adopted base real-estate tax rate increased from $1.033 to $1.053 per $100 of assessed value. A household’s bill also depends on its assessment and any applicable relief or other levies; a two-cent rate change is not a two-percent change in every tax bill.

Revenue source, PDF page 4 · Adopted tax and budget decisions

Transfers: count them once.

The $655,362,851 Schools transfer is county funding sent to APS, not the entire APS budget. It appears once in the General Fund above. Adding the full school budget without removing that transfer would count the same money twice.

The Other fund transfers line combines the seven items below. This is a breakdown of the existing line, not additional spending to add to the General Fund. General capital projects has its own transfer line.

Borrowing and annual repayment.

The main table’s $89,737,107 Debt Service line is the net General Fund line. The adopted debt chapter projects $109,273,369 in total General Fund debt service when affordable-housing and short-term financing are included. Those figures answer different questions and must not be added together.

School debt service is accounted for in the School Debt Service Fund and supported by a General Fund transfer. Utility debt is supported by utility user fees in the Utility Enterprise Fund. Stormwater has a separate fund. Not all county debt payments come from the General Fund.

The capital plan lists $457,675,000 authorized but unissued after a planned June 2026 sale: $155,695,000 county, $143,880,000 utilities, $66,000,000 stormwater and $92,100,000 schools. The adopted debt chapter separately lists $317.5 million after its spring 2026 sale assumptions, with different component amounts. These dated schedules are not reconciled here as a current balance. Neither is outstanding debt or one year’s repayment.

Borrowing spreads capital costs over time and adds interest. Annual repayment competes for resources within the relevant fund. A project can also require future staffing, maintenance and replacement spending. A bond vote alone does not establish a final interest rate or household cost.

Adopted debt-service chapter · Authorized and unissued schedule · November 2026 bond questions

Read the numbers in context.

General Fund

The main fund for general county services and transfers; other operating and enterprise funds are separate.

Operations

Budgeted costs of running services, including people, supplies, contracts and the debt-service line shown here.

Transfer

Money moved between funds. It is spending in the sending fund and funding in the receiving fund, so combined totals need adjustments.

Capital appropriation and CIP

An appropriation authorizes spending. The Capital Improvement Plan is a multi-year plan for facilities and infrastructure; it is not all immediate spending or issued debt.

Actual, proposed, adopted

Actual is recorded expenditure. Proposed is the recommended plan. Adopted is the approved plan. Comparing actual with adopted does not measure actual spending growth.

Debt service

Principal and interest paid over time, distinct from permission to borrow and the amount still owed.

All amounts are nominal dollars, without inflation or population adjustments. FY2025 actual expenses include accounting adjustments for leases and technology subscriptions (GASB 87 and 96). The published FY2025 operations rows sum to $2 more than the printed subtotal; AFP retains the published rows and discloses the discrepancy. FY2026 and FY2027 expense-table totals reconcile. This explorer uses the expense summary on PDF page 32. The budget resolution on PDF page 3 instead lists $1,024,492,896 in General Fund operations, with a $48,327,423 Non-Departmental line rather than page 32’s $59,162,879. That $10,835,456 difference explains the two operations totals; do not mix rows from the two presentations.

Budget table source, printed page 46 / PDF page 32