Augusta commissioners have returned from a conference in Savannah and will have plenty of items to discuss when committee meetings are held Wednesday.
Augusta City Administrator Odie Donald will ask commissioners to approve his proposed framework for administering the $82.3 million Augusta Rescue Plan and implementing increased public safety pay, premium pay and vaccination incentives.
Donald proposes awarding $2,500 bonuses to full-time public safety employees and $1,250 bonuses for part-time employees. Full-time employees would receive $500 bonuses and part-time personnel would get $250. The total of the one-time payments, including $747,274 for COVID-19 vacation payouts, would be $4.6 million.
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Recurring costs through 2021 total $1.96 million, which includes implementing a $15 per hour minimum wage for all employees beginning Sept. 10 and $700,202 to address salary compression.
The total 2021 projected cost of one-time bonuses and increased salaries is $6.56 million.
The financial impact of extending the salary increases for an additional year would be $5.68 million.
Commissioner John Clarke said the big picture of Augusta government is “spend, spend, spend.”
“I’m not opposed to the raises, but I have not seen who the bonuses are going to. What is not factored in is how we’re going to pay for those raises once the American Rescue Plan money is gone. The taxpayers are going to be burdened with more burden,” Clarke said. “This is what I am concerned about. Where is that money going to come from?”
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Also on the table are Augusta commissioners special project list, through which eight commissioners, two super district commissioners and the mayor would receive funding for projects in their districts.
Donald had previously proposed $1 million for regular commissioners, $1.5 million for super district commissioners and $1 million for the mayor, but the latest backup to his agenda item on Wednesday’s agenda does not list dollar amounts.
In addition to premium pay and public safety bonuses, other sample projects are an Augusta Office of Recovery Program, staff augmentation and a vaccination program.
Donald recommends allocating $1 million for a Vax Up Augusta program to create awareness, incentives and coordination with a goal of 9,000 fully-vaccinated residents over six months, specifically through those efforts.
The engineering services committee will also hear from a member of the public on the issue of slow trash collection.
Peach Orchard Road resident Woodrow Fryer said he is fed up with the city’s trash pickup and will make his feelings about it known at Wednesday’s meeting.
“They come out and pick up trash any time they want to, and sometimes they don’t pick it up at all,” Fryer said. “They’re never consistent with picking up trash. They didn’t pick it up Monday. They said the can was too far from the street.“
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Fryer said he put his trash can closer to the road and a vehicle hit it and tore it up, and he couldn’t get them to bring him another one until he went to the Municipal Building and asked to be put on the agenda to speak. After that, people from the city started calling, including the environmental services director.
“My phone has been blowing up today,” Fryer said. “I called 311 and asked to speak to the head of environmental services, and she said I couldn’t speak to him. They try to make us pay for water that runs off the roof. We don’t have no services. They went from picking up two days a week to one day. I’m tired of all the hemming and hawing.”
District 8 Commissioner Brandon Garrett placed an item on the agenda to discuss the failure of the recreation department to keep the grass cut at areas throughout the city, including Riverwalk. Commissioner Clarke said he too has noticed that the department has been lax lately.
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“The city cemeteries look awful. They say they are understaffed and I don’t understand why they don’t want to use inmates to get the work done,” Clarke said.
The public service committee will discuss amending the city’s alcohol ordinance to allow on-premises alcohol licenses for bodegas, which are small boutique grocery stores that generally sell Hispanic food items and wine. The change will allow such establishments to hold wine tastings and other alcohol-related events.
Commissioners also will receive a notice of proposed city holidays for 2022. With the addition of Juneteenth on June 20, the number of paid holidays for city employees is 12.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com. Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
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