As the Augusta Commission begins formulating the 2026 budget, city officials are seeking the public’s input on priorities and ideas for the upcoming fiscal year.
“Augusta belongs to all of us, and it’s important that every voice is heard,” Administrator Tameka Allen said in a statement.
The public is invited to listen to a presentation and provide input at two upcoming meetings:
- 6 p.m. Monday at the Robert Howard Center, 103 Diamond Lakes Way
- 6 p.m. Wednesday at Warren Road Community Center, 300 Warren Road
The meetings are part of the city’s “commitment to “transparency, civic engagement and ‘moving Augusta Forward,’” the statement said.
The commission’s deadline for approving the budget is Nov. 18, and Fiscal Year 2026 begins Jan. 1.
In the meantime, by Aug. 18, the commission must set the millage rate, a streetlight fee amount and the garbage rate. These go on Fiscal Year 2025 tax bills, which typically go out in September.
The consolidated government presents its budget as a compilation of many separate funds. Combined, they totaled around $1.35 billion this year and $1.57 billion last year.
General government operations, the “general fund,” comprised only 9.3% or about $127 million. Law enforcement comprised about 5.8% or $78.5 million of the total, according to a recent presentation from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
View the Augusta website’s page on budgets.
The rest of the budget occupies separate funds such as capital projects, where about $400 million in current and prior sales tax funds were budgeted for 2025.
Another $360 million was designated in “enterprise” funds, where revenues are reinvested into distinct enterprises such as water and sewer, garbage collection and Augusta Regional Airport.
