MOULTRIE, Ga. — When the new fiscal year starts Sunday, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Recreation Authority will have money in the bank, although somewhat less than they asked the city and county for last week.

For many years, the City of Moultrie operated a Recreation Department for city residents. More recently, the Colquitt County Commission has also provided funding so county residents can participate, but there’s been friction between the two because no one could identify how many county residents actually use the Recreation Department facilities and programs — and thus what’s a fair percentage of the cost the county should have to pay.

To solve the conflict, the city and county governments got the state Legislature to create an independent Recreation Authority that could levy its own taxes from across the county. That authority was born July 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year. Since the county’s fiscal year is on the same schedule, it stopped providing funds to the city for recreation that same date.

The city, whose fiscal year begins Oct. 1, has continued to pay the bills for the Recreation Authority until now because the money was already allocated in the city’s 2016-17 budget.

The Recreation Authority was looking at the possibility of having no money to operate on between Oct. 1 and when taxes start coming in. Tax bills will be sent out soon, but the deadline to pay without penalty isn’t until Dec. 10. The authority could have to function more than two months with an empty bank account.

On Sept. 15, the authority sent emails to city and county governments asking for money to help them start the year. The request was significant: It wanted to borrow $400,000 from the county on a Tax Anticipation Note, which it expected to be able to pay back in December or January, and it asked each government for a gift of $200,000. Authority members discussed the request with the Moultrie City Council and with the Colquitt County Commission during those groups’ meetings Sept. 19.

Both panels expressed support for the authority, but they didn’t rush out to write their checks.

Instead, both the city and county agreed to give the authority whatever money was left in the Recreation Department fund at the end of the fiscal year. City Manager Pete Dillard said the fund has run about $150,000 under budget this year, so he expects to write the authority a check this week.

“So we finish the year on budget and they can start the year with some money in the bank,” Dillard said.

In addition, Dillard said, many people pay their taxes early so the authority should see tax money start rolling in in November.

The county commission also planned to give the authority its share of any money left over when the city and county “true up” at the end of the fiscal year, County Administrator Chas Cannon said. However, that portion is already part of the approximately $150,000 the city plans to forward to the authority.

Beyond that, the county has agreed to the Tax Anticipation Note that the authority requested, so the authority can borrow from that money if it needs to.

In the email to the city and county leaders — signed by Authority Chairman Angela Castellow, a Moultrie city councilwoman — the authority will face expenses that the earlier Recreation Department didn’t because it was part of city government:

• It will have to contract for an audit at an estimated $10,000 to $15,000 per year.

• It has hired its own attorney and accountant. Under the Recreation Department, those roles were filled by people employed or contracted to the city and paid through other funds. Both are expected to be unusually expensive for the first year or two because of the work involved in starting up the authority, the email said.

• The authority will have to pay sales tax. As a division of city government, the department did not.

• Insurance costs are expected to increase because of a smaller pool of employees.

Another increased expense for the authority over the department will be utilities, and the email asked for help with those bills in addition to the loan and gifts.

The Recreation Department paid for utilities at a low “transfer rate” because they were provided by another city department. The authority asked for the city to continue charging at the transfer rate in 2017-18 and to increase the rate by 10 percent per year for five years thereafter, maxing out at half what the city charges to commercial utility customers.

Dillard was not receptive to the request at the Sept. 19 city council work session.

Brad Gregory, a member of the authority who also serves the Colquitt County School System as senior assistant superintendent for finance/business services, spoke to the city council at that meeting. He said the authority members have several ideas on ways to improve recreation in the county, but so far all their focus has been on administrative needs to get the authority started. He said they want to have a study to develop a strategic plan for recreation going forward.

“We have a vision that that Recreation Department can be so much more than it is,” Gregory said.

He compared the authority’s financial situation to a student graduating college burdened by student loans as compared to one whose parents have paid his way.

“If mama and daddy give us a little boost, we could be 10 years ahead,” he said.

Dillard countered that when he was in school, his father told him if he needed anything, all he had to do was ask. He offered the same deal to the Recreation Authority: If something specific comes up that the authority needs help with, ask the city and county for assistance with that specific need.

In an interview after the meeting, Dillard added that city and county gifts to a group that can levy its own taxes could be construed as double taxation, which is illegal.