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The City of Dawson will move ahead with its fiscal year 2027 budget before completing external audits that remain unfinished, city officials told The Dawson News on July 31 — more than three months after the newspaper began requesting the financial records behind the city’s decisions.

As Dawson’s finance director resigns and operating pressures mount, records show $10.2 million in sewer funding, frozen loans, missing audits and gaps in the public accounting of project money.

Dougherty County commissioners deadlocked in two 3-3 votes, with one commissioner abstaining in each, related to work on the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system at the Dougherty County Jail on Monday. The issue has divided commissioners for months.