Loudon County closed FY2026 in better shape than its budget assumed. The unaudited year-end numbers handed out at the August 17, 2026 Commission workshop show revenue came in $2.5M over budget, departments held $1.8M under their ceilings, and the General Fund balance grew by $2.1 million in a year the budget had conservatively planned to draw savings down. The school fund posted the same pattern. That is cautious budgeting and a strong local economy both doing their jobs — and this page sets the new numbers beside the frozen audit-baseline simulator — which stays exactly as published — so you can see what actually moved.
Unaudited · budgetary basis Source: Aug 17, 2026 workshop handout Funds 101 & 141Every number in the left column is from the county's own amended FY2026 budget (adopted 6/29/26). The middle column is the frozen simulator's deliberately conservative no-new-spending baseline — revenue held flat at FY2025 audited levels, spending at audit levels plus the one committed 4.5% raise. The right column is the unaudited year-end actual from the workshop handout.
| FY2026 | Amended budget (ceilings) | Frozen simulator baseline | Actual (unaudited) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $29,493,793 | $28,791,908 | $32,012,948 |
| Expenditures | $31,636,473 | $28,644,176 | $29,810,393 |
| Operating result | −$2,142,680 | +$147,732 | +$2,202,555 |
| Fund balance change | −$2.14M draw | ≈ flat | +$2,095,947 |
| Fund balance, 6/30/2026 | ≈ $13.9M | ≈ $16.21M | $18,159,914 |
Fund 101 revenue came in $2,519,155 over the amended budget. It was not spread evenly: the handout notes that Local Option & Statutory taxes alone were 60% of the gain, and fees in lieu of salary from three county offices added another half million.
Departments spent $29,810,393 against a $31,636,473 budget — 94% — leaving $1,826,080 of appropriations unspent. Appropriations are legal ceilings, not targets, and this is the pattern the frozen simulator documented: audited actuals typically come in below them.
General Purpose School Fund 141 is separate from the General Fund (and from the school construction debt, which has its own fund and levy). Same workshop handout, same pattern: revenue over, spending under, balance up.
The General Fund starts FY2027 with $16,086,322 available — almost exactly the $16.06M it had at the start of FY2026. Two straight budgets have planned prudently for draws the county never ended up needing. The adopted FY2027 appropriation is $33,230,550; if the county spent every dollar of that ceiling and revenue merely repeated FY2026's $32.0M, the draw would be about $1.2M against a $16.1M cushion — and history says the ceiling won't be fully spent. (That last sentence is my arithmetic, not the handout's.)
The reserve position — roughly 50%+ of annual revenue — remains far above the 10–15% healthy threshold the simulator uses.
These numbers are unaudited, on a budgetary basis; the audit can move them. The gain is concentrated in consumption taxes (sales, business, hotel/motel) and interest income — revenue that tracks the economy and the rate cycle, not a permanent floor. One strong year is a data point, not a trend: the frozen simulator's 0%-growth baseline was beaten badly this year, but that is exactly the kind of year that tempts governments into building recurring spending on non-recurring strength.
Spending still grew 8.2% year over year. If that pace continues and revenue growth reverts, the margin closes fast — that is the scenario the simulator exists to test.