Some commissioners are grumbling that three of the year’s biggest issues are all reaching a head at the same time. Currently, negotiations over SPLOST 9, setting this year’s millage rate and forming next year’s budget are all under deadline.
To that, we say, tough turkey. The commission could have started working on all of these issues earlier, but they collectively decided to kick the can down the road for as long as possible.
The commission is coming to the realization that to pay all of the bills coming due, they will likely have to raise the millage rate, that is, raise property taxes.
This is nothing other than the hens coming home to roost. It took them four years, but they have finally made it back. The city now must face the fact that to close an estimated $10.9 million budget shortfall for 2025, they will either have to cut spending, dip into the city’s fund balance or raise taxes.
We know that cutting spending means leading a herd of sacred cows to slaughter, so that is likely off the table.
Interim Finance Director Tim Schroer is blaming the shortfall in the near $1 billion budget on a combination of “rising costs and unexpected expenses.”
Poppycock.
Flush with COVID relief funds, in 2020 and beyond, the commission went on a spending spree. They were handing out across-the-board raises knowing full well they would eventually have to pay for the swollen payroll out of pocket when the federal funds ran out.
Getting a bill that is inching towards the $10 million mark for misfiled paperwork and having to reimburse the feds $6.5 million in “lost” HUD funding earmarked for emergency rental assistance during COVID was certainly unexpected, but not surprising given the lack of oversight that continues to bite the commission in the bottom line.
Speaking of the bottom line, the commission will likely be forced to raise the millage rate or face a mass walkout if they rescind the raises from years ago.
This should give taxpayers the resolve to demand completion of a city-wide forensic audit instead of the piece-meal lip service the commissioners are calling an audit or face a revolt when it comes time for the public to vote on SPLOST 9.
Commissioners need to suck it up, take responsibility for their actions and raise property taxes in Richmond County.
