It’s time to rethink the Augusta-Richmond County consolidated charter, according to its chief architect, former state Sen. Charles Walker.
“I think we’ve learned a lot and grown a lot in the past, and I think changes need to be made,” said Walker, of the charter of the consolidated the city of Augusta and Richmond County.
Voters approved the consolidation measure on June 20, 1995, and it went into effect January 1996.
While Walker says he wrote the final document, that was just the starting point for getting the charter approved.
“It had to go through Justice and get passed by both the House and Senate before it ever went to the referendum,” Walker said.
Walker concedes the charter had to be drawn up quickly and had to pass muster with the federal Department of Justice, a process that can potentially make such a merger a decades-long court battle.
When the charter went into effect, many viewed it as a positive move that would make Augusta-Richmond County the (then) second largest city in Georgia, ramping up the area’s prestige.
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In reality, the merger was not a match made in heaven. It was more akin to a shotgun wedding. Augusta city leaders had no choice but to agree to a new consolidated government.
In the early 1990s, Augusta was near bankruptcy, according to Walker. That was because of decades of urban flight that severely eroded the tax base for the city, in addition to alleged financial mismanagement.
The symptoms of Augusta’s troubles were visible earlier. In the late 1980s, downtown Augusta had become a no-man’s land devoid of the restaurants, bars and retail shops that once thrived and helped finance the government through licensing and sales taxes.
According to Aurelia Epperson, who worked in city administration under Mayor Charles DeVaney, Augusta had no rainy-day funds and had to resort to raiding the coffers of city departments just to make payroll.
Speaking on the Austin Rhodes’ radio show shortly after consolidation occurred, Epperson said DeVaney used income from the water department and city pension funds to plug the holes in other areas of the city budget.
“DeVaney was, well, clever, that’s what I would say,” Walker admits.
DeVaney died in 2007.
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Because of Augusta’s financial woes, water mains were bursting all over town, and the Water Department didn’t have the funding to maintain the pipes or fix the problems of an aging water system. City-issued checks began to bounce, and the proverbial dominoes began to tumble.
The city of Augusta faced a financial emergency. It also city faced a conundrum. The Georgia Constitution does not allow municipalities to file for bankruptcy protection for any reason.
Augusta had two choices – enact a massive tax increase and drastically reduce services such as trash pick-up, fire service and policing, or the city could consolidate with the county, which, at the time, was flush with cash. City leaders chose the latter.
Even though the proposed new city was demographically 70 percent White and 30 percent Black, Walker said that he worked with the Justice Department to ensure a 50-50 racial split on the new city-county commission. While he says that he stands by his decisions of the time, he never meant for public policy to become stagnated along racial lines.
“You have to remember, that was 25 years ago, and back then, a vote did not necessarily mean political power. Things were much different,” Walker said, adding, “I don’t regret that because I think it helped move us all forward, but yes, there were unintended consequences.”
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In the decades since consolidation, the Augusta Commission often has operated along racial lines. Commonly, commissioners would prevent the mayor from breaking a tie by having one member abstain from voting.
In the early days of the consolidated government, a “gentleman’s agreement” specified that if the mayor of Augusta was of one skin color, the mayor pro tem would be the opposite color. That color barrier would not be broken until 2011 when Joe Bowles was confirmed as mayor pro tem while Deke Copenhaver was in office as mayor. Both men are White.
Currently, both the mayor and mayor pro tem are Black.
Bowles says that White or Black, a person must have tough skin to participate in Augusta politics because a lot of compromises went into the charter. He says he believed the race issues were secondary for commissioners.
“The race card was played by both sides. I’ve been called a racist by both Whites and Blacks. After a while, it almost becomes a compliment,” Bowles said.
Walker believes that over time the racial animosity that once existed has, for the most part, faded away, he said.
“I think those days are past us. Race is becoming less and less of a factor, so I think in that way, we succeeded,” Walker said.
According to Walker, if he could revise the city charter, he would give the incoming mayor far more authority and elevate the position to that of a corporate CEO rather than merely a governmental figurehead.
One definite change Walker would like to see is giving the mayor more power.
“The city administrator and department heads all have ten bosses, and that is just not effective. I have run a corporation, and no one should have ten bosses. The mayor needs to be able to make recommendations and be in charge of implementing city policy. If I could make that change, I would,” Walker said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
