Some Summerville and Forest Hills residents have floated the idea of seceding from Augusta.
As the ship sinks, they’re manning the lifeboats, angry about the proposed redistricting plan that splits District 3. They’re also angry about garbage pickup, high taxes and everything people normally get mad about.
They would create their own city of Summerville.
Some people say they should go like Sandy Springs and go on their own,” said District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight.
Or Hephzibah and Blythe.
After all, they reason, “We have our business district around Monte Sano Avenue, our beauty parlors, barber shop, liquor store, our churches and our university. So, what if we don’t have a supermarket. We can’t be worse off than District 1 where they want to put some of us. District 1 doesn’t have a grocery store either.”
Of course, they’d still have the same county commission and possibly the same garbage service, both equally bad.
Ten years ago, residents gathered to celebrate a new historic marker and the 150th anniversary of the former village’s 1861 incorporation.
The marker placed at Goulds Corner at Walton Way and Milledge Road tells the history of Summerville and some of its former residents, George Walton and John Milledge.
Before it was annexed into Augusta in 1912, Summerville was a separate municipality on the hill above downtown and the riverfront.
A post at Goulds Corner originally served as the center for old Summerville. The neighborhood limits were originally drawn in a one-mile radius from the post.
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Bread and Circus
Before you vote in the referendum on the $240 million James Brown Arena, plus millions more in interest on the bonds, ask yourself this:
“Do I want to hike my property taxes for 30 years to build a place for shows and concerts? Instead of building it with SPLOST money where out-of-towners help pay (like the Savannah arena).”
“Columbia County folks should love it. They pay nothing and get to live where the schools are better.”
Speaking of Schools
The Richmond County school system’s 2021 graduation rate declined to 73.77 percent, a 3.4 percent decrease from the previous year. Statewide, 83.7 percent of seniors graduated on time in 2021. They’ll do better next year.
Congratulations!
Former Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver was honored as a Distinguished Alumni of Augusta University during the school’s Alumni Weekend.
Copenhaver graduated in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Will So Much Green Revive the Garden City?
The cost of Augusta government operations next year is expected to be almost $1 billion, or about $80 million more than it was this year if city commissioners adopt Administrator Odie Donald’s proposed 2022 budget.
The general fund portion, which supports everyday government operations, would increase to $177.6 million, a 5.44 percent or $8 million increase over this year’s $168 million spending plan.
The increase includes a planned use of $39 million from SPLOST 8 money and a $41 million infusion of cash from the American Rescue Plan, some $4.5 million of which made it possible to balance the 2022 budget, according to Donald’s draft.
Now, one thing to remember about all of this is that the money he’s talking about has got to come out of somebody’s pocket, and that pocket is yours even if you have to pay some to Washington first, so it can trickle on down back to Augusta.
Donald also proposes allocating $3.2 million to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office to help fill the depleted deputy ranks and $600,000 for body cameras for the Marshal’s Office.
The proposal also includes the cost of buying two new SUVs for Emergency 911 to expand public education and outreach at schools, community groups and churches. It really does.
More costly, at $2 million, is a realignment of salaries in the Engineering Department and Utilities Department to retain and attract staff. In other words, if somebody in Engineering is making $75,000 a year and somebody in Utilities in a similar position is pouting about making $60,000; then the utility guy gets a $15,000 raise.
Some $2.5 million would be allocated to countywide maintenance with a half-million going to downtown Augusta. There’s also a $250,000 pay study, although one was done a few years ago for about the same cost. But Donald says things have changed since then.
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Is that an understatement, or what?
There’s also money to hire an auditor to conduct business audits such as excise tax, transportation and tourism fees to make sure nobody is getting away with anything.
The Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau would get $750,000 and the Downtown Development Authority would get $50,000 a year.
Donald also proposes hiring an Economic Development Officer and Administrative Coordinator to facilitate better collaboration and coordination with nongovernmental agencies and authorities.
News Flash! The Mayor Wants More Money!
The proposal includes upgrading a part-time assistant to a fulltime executive assistant in Mayor Hardie Davis’ office.
Davis asked for $672,970, or $187,760 more than his 2021 budget total. Donald recommended a $68,810 increase to $554,020 and eliminated the mayor’s My Brothers’ Keeper slush fund.
Why does Davis need four employees to cut ribbons? You only need three people. One to hold each end of the ribbon and the mayor. That’s in a worst-case scenario. Most of the time the people opening the business will hold the ribbon for you, so all you need is the mayor and a pair of scissors.
Donald also recommended a $1.36 million budget for the administrator’s office, a $30,050 increase.
Donald recommended a little over $1 million in salaries be paid to new employees from the general fund.
Utilities, an enterprise fund, would get nine new positions for $383,523; Public Transit two new employees for $93,758 and Augusta Regional Airport three new employees at $174,188.
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Whatcha Gonna Do When the Well Runs Dry?
Some $564,460 in new positions will be paid for with ARP money that is expected to run out in 2023. The Board of Elections would get an Elections System Information Analyst and an Elections Analyst at a cost of $146,061, plus benefits.
The Finance Department would get two accountants, a management analyst and the reclassification of two financial analysts at a total cost of $198,759. And the Superior Court would get four new public defenders at $219,640.
Departments with the largest proposed budget increases include Law Enforcement with a recommended $70.5 million budget includes a $3.6 million increase. Public Safety with recommended $61.5 million budget includes a $981,390 increase. The proposed $24.5 million Judicial budget includes a $461,430 increase. And the proposed $6.96 million Public Works budget includes $339,240 increase.
“It’s Like the Magical Mystery Tour”
“There’s a whole group of numbers with no clear-cut definitions,” Commissioner John Clarke said about the budget proposal. “Therefore, it must be one more masterful governmental illusion.”
Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com
