The Augusta Commission set new streetlight fees and garbage rates but held off on two other big-ticket items at a high-stakes Tuesday meeting.
The commission postponed setting the city’s millage rate until next week, citing a delay Richmond County Board of Education has sought that gives the city more time. The school board announced Tuesday it is raising property taxes by 5.33%.
The Augusta Commission also postponed the November sales tax referendum until next May to devote more time to assembling a winning project list.
Streetlight fees expand to thousands
Thousands of Augusta households will see a streetlight fee for the first time on tax bills coming out this fall. The annual fee has long varied by address and not raised enough money to cover the city’s costs.
Under the plan adopted Tuesday, homeowners previously not billed will see a $45 streetlight fee on their tax bills. Residential customers currently paying $85 will be billed $95.
The city will charge commercial customers $295, a $188 increase. Property owners previously exempt who had been paying the residential rate will now pay the commercial rate.
Homeowners in the old city limits, known as the Urban Services District, will see a new $10 charge on tax bills coupled with an $85 transfer from the urban services millage portion. In some cases, the transfer will be less than homeowners are currently paying for streetlights, Interim Finance Director Tim Schroer has said.
Applied to the city’s 81,389 parcels, the increased fees will generate approximately $8.6 million and create a $700,000 surplus the city will use to pay down an accumulated deficit that currently stands at $1.2 million.
A motion to adopt the fee from Commissioner Don Clark was seconded by Tanya Barnhill-Turnley and passed 7-2, with commissioners Jordan Johnson and Stacy Pulliam voting no and Commissioner Brandon Garrett absent Tuesday.
MORE: Malinda Cobb named new Richmond County School System superintendent
New garbage fee won’t fund demolitions
On garbage pickup, which Augusta has increased by only $10 since 2013, the new annual residential fee will be $374.50, an increase of $4.50 per month. The service will no longer include recycling collection, which households will have to purchase separately from waste hauler Coastal Waste and Recycling.
A vote to approve the fee passed 6-4, with Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilfoyle and commissioners Francine Scott, Tony Lewis and Jordan Johnson voting no.
The new fee will not cover vacant lot clearing, mosquito control and blight demolition, which were allocated a combined $2.05 million in an earlier proposal. The city funded the services through garbage fees in prior years.
Clark advocated to take unrelated services away from garbage pickup revenue. “I’m not saying they are not valid services, but I don’t want to see them in my trash,” Clark said.
He also pushed to increase the tipping fees surrounding communities pay to bring trash to Augusta’s landfill, although the revenue can’t be mixed with garbage pickup fees. Augusta offers volume discounts to large haulers that amount to millions, but bills itself at the highest rate.
MORE: Tip Top Taps of downtown, once of Evans, closes
SPLOST 9 postponed
After reviewing a package that had grown to $424.6 million, the commission voted to conduct the referendum on SPLOST 9 next May rather than in November.
Commissioners considered adding the $14 million Mayor Garnett Johnson wants to overhaul Augusta’s riverfront boathouse and add $2.5 million to bond the project up front. Commissioner Stacy Pulliam pushed to include $10 million for affordable housing and $2.5 million for a water park.
Clark said he agreed with many of the community’s SPLOST critics. He said the commission was “rushing through” the process as it contended with garbage and streetlight fees, millage rates and ongoing audits.
His motion to postpone the SPLOST was seconded by Commissioner Catherine Smith Rice. It passed 8-2 with Johnson and Lewis opposed and Garrett out.
The downside of moving the referendum is if it fails in May, Augusta will have to wait a year to again present a plan to voters, Allen said. SPLOST 8 collections are expected to be complete in late 2026 so Augusta could have a gap in funding.
MORE: Cyber growth stokes fears of potential water shortage in Columbia County
Recreation, HCD audits under way
In committee meetings that followed the commission meeting, Rice again advocated for an audit, saying constituents are threatening to veto SPLOST 9 without one.
“As a commissioner, I would like to see how each department is handling the dollars,” but she would not make a motion Tuesday, Rice said.
After rejecting 2023 proposals to conduct sweeping audits due to cost, the commission currently has two audits underway, Schroer said.
An audit of grant spending in Housing and Community Development began about three weeks ago and will take 4-6 months, he said. The department is where the commission had to refund millions to the U.S. Treasury become funds were improperly spent.
A second audit, of Augusta Recreation and Parks, got under way a month ago and has a 90 day turnaround, Schroer said.
Clark said having the city oversee the audit processes was questionable because “some of our internal controls we’ve identified we need to improve.”
Commissioners discussed procuring auditing firms to have ready when a department needs an audit.
Crossings, alleys eyed for closure
In another item the Engineering committee heard a proposal from the Georgia Department of Transportation and CSX Railroad to permanently close three railroad crossings at R.A. Dent Boulevard and place a gate at Laney Walker Boulevard.
Engineering Director Hameed Malik said he agreed with the proposal to close Miller and Marks streets but not Holley Street.
Commissioners also accepted as information a proposal from Pulliam to abandon and possibly sell numerous city alleys. These include alleys in the Central Avenue area, Malik said.
In other action
At the request of Finance Committee Vice Chair Pulliam, the committee approved the following by consent:
- Authorizing an intergovernmental agreement with the Urban Redevelopment Agency to refinance a 2020 bond series for the Laney Walker-Bethlehem project. The city has refinanced project bonds every five years, supplying “periodic cash infusions” for the project.
- Raising the hotel-motel excise tax to 8% effective Oct. 1 and changing the formula by which tax revenue is split between Destination Augusta and the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority. Destination Augusta will also receive 17% of the city’s excise taxes on liquor, wine beer and other alcoholic beverages.
