The Augusta Commission held its first and only public hearing Tuesday on the 2026 budget, which currently includes a two-mill tax increase and across-the-board cuts to services and outside groups.
Only three spoke at the 1:30 p.m. hearing, which officials said was advertised in the legal organ. Each sought alternatives to the funding cuts.
The $1.3 billion budget presented by Administrator Tameka Allen last month predicts a $21 million shortfall next year, attributed largely to increased personnel costs and the expiration of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
While the total budget includes dozens of separate funds that can’t be spent on regular operations, the general fund and law enforcement budget controlled by the commission amounts to approximately $223 million.
Police spending questioned
Leeds Court resident Lakelynn Barnes questioned the amount the proposed budget directs to law enforcement. Funding for the law enforcement portion increases by $11 million, to approximately $90 million.
Barnes pointed out that much of the deficit stems from law enforcement personnel costs, as Richmond County Sheriff Gino Brantley has raised wages and filled numerous positions to rebuild the department.
“We’re divesting the important parts of the community — parks, recreation, things like that — but we’re giving the sheriff’s office more money?” she said.
At a time when Augusta’s most vulnerable face cuts in government benefits such as SNAP, the city wants to cut funding for departments that create housing and work with the poor, she said.
Cut will close Diamond Lakes library
Emanuel Sinclair Mitchell, director of the Augusta library system, spoke and said mandated 10% cuts to the system will result in the closure of the Diamond Lakes Regional Park library branch, and the eventual loss of the system’s bookmobile.
Numerous agencies funded yet outside of the local government are being slashed by 10% to 30%.
The system has already cut its budget 12% in three years and losing the additional funding also will mean layoffs of part-time library personnel, he said.
MORE: Cuts would close library branches, cut jobs
Tax manufacturers instead?
The third person to speak on the budget, former Commissioner Moses Todd, suggested alternatives to raising taxes.
The city could seek voter approval to implement the half-cent sales tax it’s afforded to make up revenue lost in the city’s new homestead exemption, he said. Voters approved the 3.2% cap on revaluations Tuesday.
The additional sales tax would generate about $12 million, he said.
But unfortunately, if voters approve the new tax won’t start until the fourth quarter of next year, so it can’t cover the shortfall, Interim Finance Director Timothy Schroer said.
Another option is one Augusta declined to approve in 2014: an excise tax on energy used in manufacturing, Todd said.
Counties were given the option to impose the tax after the state exempted manufacturers from paying taxes on the energy they use.
Manufacturers campaigned hard against the new tax in 2014, when it was expected to generate about $4 million annually.
Another option is simply to borrow money to fill the gap, Todd said.
If the commission approves a tax increase, it should include a sunset date so as not to create a future excess, he said. “I’m not interested in providing a slush fund for our government.”
The commission has another work session on the 2026 budget at 2 p.m. today.
