City Administrator Odie Donald presented Augusta commissioners with a plan Wednesday for spending $82 million federal dollars from the Biden administration’s American Recovery Plan that’s supposed to help communities recover from the pandemic.
That’s what it’s supposed to do, but in reality it will grow government, redistribute wealth and give away more of your tax dollars to folks, many of whom don’t deserve it, and add a trillion or two to the federal deficit. And some of it will be stolen just like billions of the CARES Act money was swindled by con artists and crime syndicates.
“Government programs have long been fertile ground for scammers,” a March NBC report stated. “But the scale of the fraud in the unemployment program created by the CARES Act has reached a staggering level, state and federal officials say.
Oh yes, sure, the feds have tightened things up to stop fraud, waste and abuse since the CARES Act, just like they said they did after an estimated billion in relief meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina was lost to fraud.
And the $82 million is only part of Richmond County’s windfall. The school system will get $112 million; employers will get $447 million in loans they don’t have to pay back; people behind on their rent will get it paid with some of the $13 million the feds are sending, along with $3.5 million for the homeless; $2.5 million for Paine College and $4,4 million for Augusta Regional Airport.
So, on to Donald’s presentation of Augusta’s Recovery Plan, skipping over preliminary remarks, and listing some of the eligible uses of the money, which include:
- Cost of Consultants (Why am I not surprised that the first things the administrator brings up are hiring consultants and more employees?)
- Establish Public Jobs program (Who’s going to work when the government is paying them not to?)
- Revenue Recovery Clarification (Does that mean they’re going to clarify how they’ll recover the revenue that gets stolen?)
- Broadband to Unserved/Underserved (Aren’t Most of Us? At least we think we are.)
- Broadband That Brings Reliability of High Download and Upload Speed
- Investment in Outdoor Spaces in Qualified Census Tracts
- Services for Stronger Neighborhoods
- Expedite Court Case Backlogs
- Assistance to Households and Businesses (More welfare)
- Pre-project Development of Water, Sewer, Broadband
- Public Health Response: Vaccination Programs, Medical Expenses,
- Testing and Contact Tracing
There was more, but we don’t have all day here to list everything. Donald also gave examples of what some other counties report they’ll be doing with their federal money.
Aiken County officials will spend theirs on a water treatment plant; Columbia County on broadband and water treatment, and DeKalb County has approved $3,000 bonuses for public safety workers, a plan Donald wants to copy in Augusta.
Donald also gave examples of Covid-19 vaccine incentive programs in other cities, such as using raffles with really big prizes like a vehicle or college scholarships.
Concerning best practices for small businesses, he mentioned the city of Baltimore’s Boost Program whereby local Black-owned businesses received technical support and $50,000 to activate empty storefronts downtown.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott established the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Program to Manage Historic ARP Investment, which Donald said should be duplicated in Augusta on a smaller scale with three to four staff members and office space.
Do you really believe that the office they create and the employees they hire will ever go away? And who’s going to be in charge, Donald or Davis? Both of whom have hired more people than any of their predecessors, building their own empires.
Among Donald’s sample list of about two-dozen projects for Augusta are:
- Affordable Housing/Blight Mitigation, $4 million
- Premium Pay (Low and Moderate Workers) $2.8 million
- $3,000 Bonuses for Fulltime Public Safety Workers who also received hazard pay during the pandemic.
- $1,500 Bonuses for Parttime Public Safety Workers
City employees making less than $78,000 a year will also receive premium pay bonuses whatever those are. And all employees will make at least $15 an hour, which amounts to $31,200 a year. And the benefits package for city employees is about a third more, or $10,296, bringing the annual compensation of more than $41,496 to those employees.
- Utility Relief, $1.5 million (Relief from what? Paying your utility bills?
- Water meter replacement, $8 million (Maybe they’ll get your bill right with those.)
- EMA Operations Center, $2.6 million
- Small Business Incubator & Resource Center, $1.2 million (Doesn’t Augusta already have at least one of those?)
Other proposed projects with the funding amount to be determined include a vaccination program, youth programming/violence reduction, small business grant program, and a staff augmentation program.
A staff augmentation program? Is that like breast augmentation where things get bigger, only it’s the government?
A $12 Million Ball of Wax
In his presentation Donald also addressed Commissioner Bobby Williams’ previous proposal to give each commissioner $1 million to spend on projects in his district, saying it would not simply be a case of handing out the money upon request.
Donald said there would be a committee to evaluate the commissioner’s request and approve or disapprove them. He also said the total would be $12 million since the Super District commissioners should get a little more and the mayor would get $1 million.
Can you imagine how many Popeye’s lunches Hardie could buy with a million dollars or how many actresses who play pole dancers on TV he could hire to come to Augusta to teach young women and girls how to move?
Local Taxpayer Moral Augmentation
Former Augusta Mayor Bob Young has a better plan for giving away $82 million.
“Let’s consider this: A property tax rebate, which will bring the effective property tax rate for the year to zero and keep $57 million in the hands of the homeowners and businesses in Augusta-Richmond County,” he said. Talk about an economic stimulus to the local economy!
“Let the folks who support this government day to day, in good times and bad times, reap the benefit from COVID recovery funds.
“The problem with much of Odie’s plan is that it is imbedded not with one-time expenses, but expenses that will impact the general fund once the recovery money is gone. Do you really believe the Rescue Plan employees will be terminated when the money runs out, and employees getting pay raises will stop getting them when the COVID money is gone?
“Why are city employees getting bonuses for doing their jobs?” he asked. “How many city employees were furloughed or fired because of the pandemic? They all had job security, unlike Augusta folks whose businesses were forced to close.
“My argument is to help the folks who are struggling to keep the government flush with cash by paying their property taxes. Those folks whose personal financial investment in their property in Richmond County struggle without the benefit of a guaranteed government job or bloated federal unemployment payments.
“If you wipe out the property taxes for 2021 at $57 million, that still leaves $25 million for direct aid to underserved people.”
An Upstream Battle
After Tuesday’s Augusta Commission meeting, Commissioner John Clarke said, ““Today I felt like the salmon swimming upstream to the spawning grounds, knowing that there’s a 500-pound Grizzly Bear sitting at the edge of the river ready to take a swipe.”
But Clarke wasn’t the least bit fazed by the prospect, having already had three items he’d placed on the commission meeting agenda swiped down by a majority of the commission, two of them for the second time in two weeks.
First, it was his request to have the city Clerk Lena Bonner read aloud for the record the commissioners’ oath of office which Commissioner Ben Hasan moved to deny, after which City Attorney Wayne Brown ruled that the item was not in order.
Well, the next time Commissioner Sammie Sias wants to have some complaint about Gold Cross EMS read into the record, do you think we can expect the same ruling?
Next was Clarke’s call for a forensic audit of all departments and programs of city government which he said would answer a lot of questions people are asking.
Commissioner Bobby Williams said a forensic audit suggests criminal activity which he didn’t “see” or “smell.” So, he made a substitute motion to deny Clark’s motion.
Then Commissioner Brandon Garrett asked the mayor whether the audit of his credit cards, which started the whole forensic audit quest, had begun.
“An audit is underway, as governed by the finance director, overseeing that right now,” Davis replied.
When Garrett asked whether Davis had a timeline for the audit, Davis said, “It’s on the way.”
So, they voted on Bobby Williams’ substitute motion to deny having the audit, which passed 6-4 with Commissioner Dennis Williams getting confused and voting no when he meant to vote yes for the second time this month.
The Timing was Great Anyway
Then Hasan accused Davis of doing the government a disservice by not being forthcoming about the audit of his credit cards which he said caused Clarke to call for auditing the entire government. He also took Davis to task for choosing to consider Clarke’s item to discuss before the auditor’s report on the annual city audit which he apparently knew was going to be positive.
“You could have done this community a good service, a great service I would say, in going to the part of the agenda in this manner that some of this could potentially have been put to rest,” Hasan said.
“You’ve had one thing, this credit card that’s been up in the fire.
And that’s been yours, Mr. Mayor. My colleagues, they chose to take what I think could have be the easy way out. Instead of asking for a forensic audit of your card, they want to indict the whole government.
And I think that’s disservice.”
And right on que, Davis said, “You know there’s something called the last word. And there’s a reason why the auditor is coming now. To give us the last word. Not only shine a light on what’s been done, but to do that right now.”
Enter, Miller Edwards of Mauldin & Jenkins auditing firm who gave a glowing 2020 financial report.
“Augusta, Georgia’s in fine shape right now,” Edwards said.
Later, Clarke’s motion to initiate blight ordinance inspections on Cardinal Regency Mall LLC properties on Gordon Highway died for lack of a second.
When asked whether he felt defeated, Clarke said, “I’m the burr. I am the burr under the blanket and saddle of a horse. When the rider gets on and the burr starts hurting the horse, the horse starts bucking.”
Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
