The Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority is banking on the idea of “Build it, and They Will Come.”
And Augusta government officials are banking on, “If We Get it, We Will Spend It.”
Authority Chairman Cedric Johnson gave Augusta commissioners a progress report on the new James Brown Arena last week and told them there were fewer than 35 days before Richmond County voters will be asked to approve a bond referendum of up to $240 million.
So, time is running out for voters to decide whether to vote themselves a property tax increase.
If the Nov. 2, referendum is approved, based on the current digest, it will be a 2.7887 millage rate increase or about $97.60 a year for the owner of a $100,000 house, Johnson said.
MORE: Coliseum Authority Taking Final Steps on the Bond Referendum
But as former Augusta Mayor Bob Young stated in comment section of The Augusta Press after reading about Wednesday’s meeting, the $97.60 tax increase is unrealistic.
“Using a $100,000 house as an example for the property tax increase is so out of touch,” Young wrote. “Who do you know who lives in a $100,000 house? From Zillow.COM: “The typical home value of homes in Augusta is $146,066. This value is seasonally adjusted and only includes the middle price tier of homes. Augusta home values have gone up 20.5% over the past year.”
So, the typical homeowner in Augusta would pay about $150 more a year. And the mansion owners would take it on the chin.
Still, I think the referendum will pass because above all else, Augustans love bread and circus and don’t care who pays for it.
Some hockey fans want the arena to be equipped with an ice floor so Augusta can have a minor league hockey team again, which would add about $4 million to the cost. Project manager H.B. Brantley of Atlanta-based SPACE said there have been conversations about that, and one group has been asked to do a market analysis.
When the Augusta Lynx were in the arena from 1998 until 2008, the excuse from management about why they couldn’t book more shows was that the hockey games took up too many prime days, making the arena unavailable for other entertainment.
[adrotate banner=”19″]
If They Come, Where Will They Park?
Meanwhile, Augusta officials have announced a series of major events at Lake Olmstead Stadium, one of them designed to bring superstars such as Blake Shelton and Tim McGraw to town during Masters Week next year. The stadium, former home of the Augusta GreenJackets baseball team, has been renovated to the tune of $2 million by C4 Live, a company with a 10-year partnership with the Augusta Economic Development Authority to bring events and top entertainers to the stadium all year, every year.
So the question is, “Where will the crowds go? To the JBA or Lake Olmstead Stadium?
Maybe to both. But while you see beautiful pictures of the renovated Lake Olmstead Stadium, have you seen a picture of the parking lot? The crowds might come, but unless somebody finds a place for them to park, they’ll just have to turn around and go back home.
They Will Definitely Spend It
Over the next three years, $17.2 million from the city’s $82 million in American Rescue Plan money will pay higher salaries and bonuses for city employees. After that, there will have to be “alternative funding sources,” City Administrator Odie Donald told commissioners last week.
And where do you suppose those alternative funding sources will be found? Odie said from “natural growth in revenue.”
He wishes.
In the Oct. 8 paycheck, city employees will receive a one-time COVID-19 vacation payout totaling $1,039,212.
In the Oct. 22 paycheck, they will receive Premium Pay, a one-time payout of $2,500 bonuses to full-time first responders, 911 employees and deputy coroners. Part-time public safety personnel will receive $1,250 bonuses.
And on Nov. 19, the minimum $15-an-hour for all employees will be implemented at a cost of $3.4 million a year. Compression pay will also be implemented at a cost of $428,000 annually.
As Commissioner Ben Hasan explained it at Wednesday’s meeting, compression pay kicks in when an employee is making $27,000 a year and gets a pay increase putting him at $30,000 a year, equal to someone who was already making $30,000. So, the salary of the person who was already making $30,000 has to be bumped up too. Those involved in this redistribution should be wearing masks.
And all of this for about 2,600 employees who never missed a paycheck during the pandemic, were never furloughed or had the government shut them down.
Mask Up, Vax Up
During his update on Augusta’s Vax Up program, Donald also said the city should enforce mandatory mask wearing in all public buildings and facilities such as recreation centers. The Administrative Services Committee approved his recommendation that will be voted on by the full commission Tuesday.
[adrotate banner=”13″]
Talk Talk Talk Talk
Two employees who resigned from Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis’ office last summer during a controversy over Davis’ unfettered spending used a lot of paper and ink to write about what they did during their tenures. But neither Deputy Chief of Staff Naeem Jenkins-Nixon nor Civic Engagement Manager Maria Cook stated a reason for leaving.
In Jenkins-Nixon’s two-page resignation letter, he listed accomplishments such as helping bring tiny homes to the city, providing educational support, feeding families and crafting a non-discrimination ordinance. He was also tied to the mayor’s My Brother’s Keeper program.
Cook counted among her accomplishments creating the “power lunch,” a reading initiative, and she also took credit for My Brother’s Keeper, which everybody takes credit for, but nobody can figure out what they’ve done.
One of Jenkins-Nixon’s claims to fame was that he authored the mayor’s talking points on the audit of his credit card spending that wasn’t an audit. Below are his talking points on the “Topline Themes,” “Mayor’s Budget” and “Credit Card,” followed by translations.
Talking Points – Internal Audit Report – Aug. 3, 2021
Topline Themes:
Talking Point #1: We wholeheartedly agree with the audit findings.
Translation: We’re happy they didn’t find I’d done anything illegal.
Talking Point #2: The audit results, after reviewing the Office of the Mayor’s budget, essentially made three recommendations all of which have either been adopted or represent a process change.
Translation: While we didn’t do anything wrong; they found three things we weren’t doing right.
Talking Point #3: The Mayor’s Office has remained below its budget allocation approved by the commission for the last several years. The office has not spent a dime outside of its allocation.
Translation: We didn’t waste more money than they gave us.
Talking Point #4: Up to this point, the mayor’s office has acted within our allowances.
Translation: See translation for Talking Point #3. Basically, he said the same thing in Talking Points 3 and 4, using different words.
Talking Point #5: No department charged with being the guardrails of city expenditures or procurements alerted us to a problem with our purchases of services or goods.
Translation: Ignorance of the rules can be an excuse for not doing it right if you don’t read the rules. But if you violate the rules, blame somebody else.
Mayor’s Budget:
Talking Point #1: Whether by check or charge, the mayor’s office has stayed below its budget allocated by the commission for several years.
Translation: At the end of the day, the commission gave Davis more money than they’ve ever given any other mayor, and all the taxpayers got out of it was a few cut ribbons. However, Davis and his staff ate a lot of food, and he traveled the world.
Talking Point # 2: Any expenses that come out of the mayor’s office are funds that were allocated and not a penny more.
Translation: If I keep saying this over and over people won’t care how I spent those funds.
Talking Point #3: The mayor’s office budget variances in public relations, temp workers, and management consultants were the result of the pandemic and associated public health events and messaging, census activity and staff turnover.
Translation: We’re going to blame the pandemic for everything just like everybody else.
Credit Card:
Talking Point #1: We hope the audit’s findings provide another level of transparency for the residents of Augusta.
Translation: We hope the audit’s findings will make everybody think we’re more transparent so they’ll shut up and stop asking questions about where we were eating lunch and why we were charging the taxpayers for it.
Talking Point #2: Whether by check or charge, the mayor’s office has stayed below its budget allocated by the commission for the past several years.
Translation: See Talking Point # 1 under Mayor’s Budget.
In summary, the long list of talking points boils down to Politics 101 – just keep saying the same thing over and over again and remember the old saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch unless you work in the mayor’s office.”
[adrotate banner=”54″]
Freedom of Information is Far from Free in Augusta
On Sept. 22, The Augusta Press staff filed a request under the Georgia Open Records Act for copies of three invoices for payments to:
– National Action Network of the CSRA, Juneteenth Celebration, 9/2/21, $1,300
– Impact Media Group for video shoot and editing for the first episode of Cuts and Conversations, MBK, 8/27/21, $1,750.
– Board of Commissioners for supplies, 8/20/21, $23.75
Eight days later, the city law department responded.
It took almost two hours – 1 hour and 55 minutes – and cost the newspaper $39.16 “to cover the administrative costs for the search, retrieval, redact and supervise access to the requested three invoices.”
Three Invoices! Two hours! That’s punitive. Anybody with one eye and half sense knows it.
MORE: Opinion: Augusta Commission Decides to Trade Trees for Cash
On Sept. 22, the staff also filed a request for copies of invoices pertaining to these documents:
– 8/6/21 – Suntrust Bankcard (all 8 charges)
– 8/27/21 – Petula Burks
– 9/16/21 – African American Mayors Conference
– 9/16/21 – Suntrust Bankcard (all 10 charges)
Eight days later, on Sept. 30, the law department office responded with 18 invoices, including:
– A $10,000 invoice for dues to the African American Mayors Conference
– A $1,500 invoice for registration to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual meeting
– A $570.07 invoice from the Omni Hotel & Resorts CNN Center in Atlanta
– An Aug. 27 credit card statement totaling $1,706.98
– A $247 invoice from Sirius XM radio
– Invoices totaling $1,352.56 from Westin Hotels in Savannah
It took almost three hours – 2 hours and 55 minutes – and cost the newspaper $61.53 to cover the search and retrieval costs.
It must be a scam. They must be thinking, “If we keep charging these outrageous prices for information, the media will find out there’s no such thing as Freedom of Information and quit bothering us.”
Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
[adrotate banner=”51″]
