Columbia County saw a slight decrease in the September SPLOST collection.
During the Columbia County Management and Internal Services Committee meeting, Leanne Reece, Internal Services director said that the collections for September 2024 were approximately $2.8 million, which was down slightly due to Hurricane Helene. Recently the county have been averaging $3 million in SPLOST collection.
Chairman Doug Duncan asked for an updated about debris pickup and the cost for that.
“The county is responsible for paying until we are reimbursed,” said County Manager Scott Johnson. “We have set aside a significant amount of money in TAVT, put some projects on hold to make sure we can fund that…I know the state is actually working with the federal government now to try and get us like a midway type of reimbursement, if that’s even possible. Ultimately, it’s going to cost us a tremendous amount of money we’re going to have to front.”
The county is receiving invoices from Debris Tech, the monitoring company, and Ceres, the pick-up company. The county has paid out over $7 million to date.
“Typically we would invest that (property tax money),” Johnson said. “we’re going to keep that money as liquid right now so we’ll have that additional cash. You all know, our property tax is a tremendous amount of our budget, it makes a little less than half of our general fund budget. But we’re going to keep that money liquid for now, plus the money we have in TAVT. That should carry us through, but obviously we’ll need reimbursement to make ends meet as we move into the budget year.”
Duncan said he, along with Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, are asking Gov. Brian Kemp to seek an extension on the 90 days collection. FEMA will reimburse counties 100% the cost of collecting debris for 90 days.
During the Development and Planning Services Committee meeting, the committee approved moving forward with a change order for the Columbia County Racquet Center. This order is to repair and overlay the existing parking lot. The estimated cost is $86,456.00, and an additional 21 days will be added to the contract time.
The DPS Committee also approved moving forward with a contract with Fall Line Design, LLC to design new restroom facilities at Evans Town Center Park on the side near the dog park, and at the Columbia County Racquet Center. The total cost for both designs is $65,500.
