The Augusta Commission met in a workshop on Monday Nov. 7 to continue budget negotiations for the 2023 fiscal year. As with previous workshops, the discussions went from the mundane examination of minutia to the unexpected.
Finance Director Donna Williams has assured the commission repeatedly that the city’s finances are stable for the 2023 fiscal year, and higher sales tax revenue collected means that the city likely can put at least $1 million in reserve funds.
Williams, though, has also repeatedly warned commissioners that prudence is needed because American Rescue Plan funding will dry up in 2024.
Last minute departmental budget requests have created a $382,000 shortfall, and District 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom attempted to lead the charge to find areas to cut and make up the difference, including leaving some vacant jobs unfilled.
“I’m just looking for money here. If (the directors) are asking for an additional ten employees, maybe they can get by with nine, that’s all I’m saying,” Frantom said.
No sooner than Frantom spoke, Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Williams “flipped the script,” as District 4 Commissioner Al Mason put it.
Williams, who hosts a quarterly constituent breakfast, asked that $50,000, or $5,000 per commissioner, be allocated to pay for breakfasts and other public meetings held by commissioners.
District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight bristled at the suggestion, noting that taxpayers already complain about the out-of town conferences and work sessions that commissioners attend each year.
“We already have a problem when we take these trips. We go out of town, and we have taxpayers frustrated about that. So, I appreciate what you brought up Mayor Pro Tem, but I can’t go there on that one, sorry,” McKnight said.
District 4 Commissioner Al Mason defended the commission trips as necessary tools for training what amounts to a board of citizen legislators, many of whom have never held elected office before.
Mason did make a reference to Mayor Hardie Davis being criticized by citizens and the media for taking trips “here, there, internationally, whatever the case may be.”
To that statement, Davis quoted lyrics from the song “Slim Shady” by rapper Eminem:
“I’m not afraid to take a stand Everybody come and take my hand And we’ll walk through the storm together…Slim Shady”
Discussions began again in earnest with Frantom pointing to line items he found in the budget such as $150,000 earmarked for the 5th Street Bridge, to which Interim City Administrator Takiyah Douse responded the money was allocated to create parking.
“We already have a parking lot there, an empty parking lot,” Davis said, referring to the 5th Street Depot lot that is currently used primarily by Unisys.
Discussion also centered around hiring a grant writer at a cost of around $100,000. Douse admitted that each department already has an employee charged with applying for grants, but she insisted that the city needs someone who is specialized in that area.
District 10 Commissioner John Clarke agreed with Douse.
“We need a certified grant writer, someone who goes to school and gets the certification and can go out, research and find the money that might be available. If we pay $100,000 to get back several million, I’m okay with that,” Clarke said.
However, Clarke did not agree with Douse on the need to spend $750,000 on a salary compensation study as a means to help fill the current 170 job vacancies (not counting Sheriff’s Office vacancies).
Commissioners will meet again on Wednesday Nov. 9 to try and finally resolve their differences, but optimism is low.
“The way it sits right now, I can’t vote for this budget,” Clarke said.
