With a self-imposed deadline less than two weeks away, Augusta commissioners learned more about the hard budget choices they have to make, but reached little consensus Thursday on what to do.
The expiration of American Rescue Plan Act funds and increased personnel costs, particularly in law enforcement, are contributing to next year’s projected $21 million budget deficit, city officials have said.
To fill the gap, Administrator Tameka Allen has proposed a two-mill tax increase as well as across-the-board cuts to departments and external agencies receiving city funding.
Garbage surplus
While it won’t help the city’s general fund, Allen said waste collection is projected to have a $1.56 million surplus next year.
She’s proposing to use the funds for demolitions of blighted buildings, vacant lot cutting and mosquito control — three items slashed during deliberations over the city’s garbage contract.
The commission appeared to reach consensus on approving this adjustment Thursday but couldn’t take a vote at the work session.
Vegetation and grounds
During the budget process the city is also attempting to create a new vegetation and grounds division, at the urging of Mayor Garnett Johnson.
Currently three departments — Central Services, Recreation and Parks and Engineering and Environmental Services — handle maintenance through a mix of city personnel, contractors and inmates.
Allen presented three options, including keeping the various maintenance functions mostly separate while focusing on priority areas, creating a standalone department or creating a division within the city’s Central Services department.
Housing development “reset”
Allen said the Housing and Community Development Department must be “rightsized” after costly errors and loss of public confidence.
Earlier this year, the city refunded $6.3 million in unspent rental assistance grant funds and paid $2.1 million in penalties. The department itself supplied only $3.5 million of that amount, leaving the city to cover the rest.
Her plan would cut $469,550 from the department’s general fund subsidy by eliminating five positions, two of them vacant, and reducing operations, refocusing HCD on its “core mission” of administering HUD housing grants.
HCD has expanded in recent years, now owning about 64 rental units acquired under former Director Hawthorne Welcher.
Commissioner Don Clark said deeper reform may be needed:
“This department screams of the fact that we need to take some very, very pointed steps,” he said. “Five personnel reductions is not going to do that.”
Making cuts
Allen said most departments and constitutional offices have submitted 3% budget reduction plans and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office plans to do so as well.
Law enforcement remains the city’s largest cost driver, with personnel increases accounting for $12–13 million in spending growth, she said.
Two offices — the District Attorney’s Office and Juvenile Court — said they cannot make cuts, she said.
The mayor’s office will see a 3.2% reduction of $19,230, bringing its annual budget to $583,170, according to a handout.
Despite these measures, Allen said additional cuts or tax increases will still be necessary.
“Give it to us straight,” Mayor Garnett Johnson said. “We signed up to make tough decisions.”
Johnson noted the city also needs to keep an eye on its reserves to avoid ratings agencies downgrading the city’s credit rating. “We do have a responsibility to our debt,” he said.
Services are vital
Several outside agencies appealed to keep their city funding:
- Child Enrichment: Executive Director Kari Viola-Brooke said the center conducted 700 forensic interviews last year that are used in prosecutions and has never sought a funding increase.
- Project Access: Executive Director Daniel Walton said the medical society program provides indigent care and currently serves about 280 patients.
- Augusta-Richmond County Library System: Executive Director Emanuel Sinclair Mitchell reported 65,000 items checked out during this year’s summer reading program, totaling 13.5 million minutes of reading.
What’s next?
The commission approved a Nov. 18 deadline for approving a balanced budget for 2026, but has until year’s end.
The next scheduled budget meeting is Nov. 13 and topics include the sheriff’s office and Central Services department.
