Augusta may sell off some assets to help cover this year’s $11 million shortfall, starting with the department blamed for part of the shortfall.
The commission Tuesday tasked the Augusta Housing and Community Development department with determining whether properties it owns can be sold, to whom and for how much.
“In light of what transpired over the past couple of weeks,” Guilfoyle said, “we’ve got to figure out some ways of recouping some funding.”
The commission two weeks ago voted to adopt “rollback” millage rates that won’t bring in much new revenue, and to use the city’s reserves to cover this year’s estimated $11 million shortfall. The commission approved the rates by consent Tuesday.
City officials have connected the shortfall to a surge in employee health costs, increased public safety staffing and an estimated $5.7 million expense tied to Housing and Community Development.
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The department’s failure to properly spend millions in rental assistance grants forced the city to refund $6.5 million to the U.S. Treasury earlier this year. So far, the incident has contributed $3.5 million in lost grant funds and $2.2 million in penalties to the city’s deficit, Interim Finance Director Timothy Schroer has said.
The department also has assembled land in the Laney-Walker and Bethlehem areas and built or rehabbed and sold dozens of houses and duplexes for the area’s redevelopment effort since around 2009. The department’s current inventory wasn’t posted online but recent ads showed houses for sale on Miller, Maple and Lyman streets and Swanee Quintet Boulevard.
Because many were built using some form of Housing and Urban Development funds, there are restrictions on how they might be liquidated.
Guilfoyle’s motion was to inventory the department’s holdings and determine whether the homes can be sold, how their proceeds may be used and whether they must remain affordable housing, and return with a list in 30 days.
READ MORE: Augusta director on leave for misuse of grant funds resigns
Questions over charter resolution continue
The authorizing resolution for Augusta’s charter review continues to raise questions while no one at city hall would claim ownership of the document Tuesday.
At issue is resolution language stating the charter review committee’s recommendations are to be sent directly to multiple levels of state government while the Augusta Commission isn’t allowed to make any modifications. Major changes such as Augusta’s form of government require legislative approval.
Charter Review Committee Secretary Angela Bakos said the resolution is a top concern in the community, where some eight community meetings about the charter review process have been held.
Asked to explain the language and his prior statements regarding the commission’s role, Interim General Counsel Jim Plunkett said while he prepared committee bylaws he did not draft the resolution language, other than a final section requiring a voter referendum on the changes.
Commissioner Tony Lewis said he hopes the committee’s months of work are not discarded at the state level. Commissioner Francine Scott asked if Plunkett did not draft the resolution, who had.
“Ma’am, I really don’t know,” Plunkett said. ” “I believe I got the language from the mayor’s office. I believe it was somewhat written by, I think it was the Carl Vinson Institute, drafted the language for the referendum to be used.” Mayor Garnett Johnson then asserted the language was “recommended by Carl Vinson.”
At Johnson’s urging, the city hired the Carl Vinson Institute at the University of Georgia as a sort of facilitator for the charter review process.
Educator Clarence Kendrick, who has spoken at several of the meetings, said he was told both Vinson employees and city lawyers denied writing the resolution. “Success has a thousand fathers, but failure is often an orphan,” Kendrick said.
READ MORE: Residents voice distrust, some call to disband Charter Review Committee
Marker to honor Helene victims
The commission approved at Johnson’s request installing a marker honoring seven Augustans who lost their lives in Hurricane Helene. The victims listed all died when trees fell on their homes. They are Stephen Donehoo and his grandson Izaac Donehoo; Daverio Carter; Uyen Zuan Le; Katherine McCall; Andrea Warner and Caffee Wright.
The commission deleted requests by Augusta Regional Airport for up to $1 million to lure a new airline and to name the Richmond County Coroner’s morgue after Coroner Mark Bowen. The commission also approved by consent setting millage rates at rollback levels.
The commission approved $1.15 million in “supplemental funding” for Waterfront Property Services LLC dba Gator Dredging to dredge the Turknett Spring sediment basin area. The proposal drew questions last week about why the work was not put back out for bids. New city Procurement Director Andy Penick assured commissioners the addition to an earlier procurement did not violate any state or federal laws.
