Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle called Tuesday for cutting the 2024 city budget by 1.5%, but had few suggestions for where to cut.
The commission held a first public hearing on Interim Administrator Takiyah Douse’s proposed $1.18 billion budget Tuesday.
The spending plan is a 4.5% increase over the current year that includes salary increases for sheriff’s deputies and a cost-of-living adjustment for all personnel.
The only members of the public to attend the public hearing had concerns about cemetery maintenance.
West Augusta homeowner Thomasine Deer, who has family buried at Magnolia Cemetery, said she’s documented how little maintenance the city has done at the cemetery for the last seven years.
Douse said cemetery maintenance funding was shifted in the budget from Augusta Parks and Recreation to the Richmond County Correctional Institution, which is supposed to use inmate labor to maintain them.
Guilfoyle said an overall cut is needed to offset the shortfall that will result from American Rescue Plan funds running out after next year.
The city has used the pandemic-relief funds for employee raises and a handful of other operating expenses.
“I didn’t want to get into next year’s budget time and have to face the music,” he said.
Two of his colleagues, Bobby Williams and Jordan Johnson, voiced opposition to directing Douse to make changes now, with a balanced budget on the table going for commission approval Nov. 21.
The largest expense Augusta will have to cover in 2025 that’s currently paid for with ARP funds is about $3 million in salary supplements for Augusta Fire Department and part-time personnel, Douse said.
Also funded using ARP for the last two years has been demolition of abandoned buildings and a handful of positions, bringing the total to around $4 million, she said.
Despite ongoing budget growth, the commission has adopted rollback tax rates over the last five years or so and enjoyed a surplus at the end of each year. Douse said the city can expect the same this year.
“We do anticipate a surplus. We just do not have that figure at this time,” she said.
Commissioner Sean Frantom, who supported cutting the budget, said all agencies, even non-governmental ones, should be on the table.
“This government’s never really cut anything, so if we were to cut something I feel like it would be a win to show the people and lessen the burden of the conversations we’re going to have in 2024,” he said.
Williams said the commission can always amend the budget later during the year.
“A percent-and-a-half is not a big ask for a government of this size,” added Mayor Garnett Johnson.
Johnson proposed across-the-board cuts for all departments earlier in the discussion, but Augusta’s mayor has no authority to require them.
“We’re hearing that we’re going to have a surplus this year and the budget is balanced,” Commissioner Jordan Johnson said. “I would hate for us to throw monkey wrenches into the conversation and say the process wasn’t transparent.”
Commissioners Catherine Smith McKnight offered a substitute cut of .75% in a motion.
Johnson said Douse had presented her best option and needed guidance to make further cuts.
“My question is, where are we asking these cuts to come from?” he said.
McKnight said Douse could make the decisions.
McKnight’s motion failed 4-5-1, with Guilfoyle, Frantom, McKnight and Brandon Garrett voting yes. Commissioner Alvin Mason voted “present” and the remaining five commissioners – Williams, Johnson, Tony Lewis, Francine Scott and Stacy Pulliam – voted no.
In another item, the Greater Augusta Arts Council announced more than $70,000 in city-funded grant awards to 14 local arts organizations, including approximately $6,000 apiece for the Augusta Symphony, Westobou, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta Players and Jessye Norman School of the Arts.
