At the Aug. 2 meeting, the Augusta Commission approved raises and bonuses to retain city employees and allowed the city to move forward with a tiny homes ordinance.
Interim City Administrator Takiyah Douse presented an amended and clarified employee retention plan that includes doubling the annual cost of living increase as well as bonuses for all workers.
Douse said the current job vacancy rate is 26% this year as opposed to just 16% in 2019, and she told commissioners that the city needs to approve a “compensation study” that would likely come at a cost of $250,000.
Douse recommended a 3% across the board cost of living pay increase at a cost of $1.9 million, which is double the rate of previous years. The funding will come through an unexpected increase in sales tax money.
Her plan also calls for giving all eligible employees a one-time payment of between $1,000 to $2,500 based on their current pay rate.
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However, the amended plan only makes employees who did not receive raises given out in 2021, and those eligible must have been employed with the city since Aug. 15, 2021.
During the near hour-long discussion, which became marginally heated at times, some commissioners worried that the one-time bonus might be considered a gratuity, which is against the law.
Under questioning from District 8 Commissioner Brandon Garrett, City Attorney Wayne Brown said they had solved the gratuity issue by not calling the payouts “bonuses.”
“What are you calling them, then?” Garrett asked.
“’Pay.’ We’re calling them ‘pay,’” Brown said.
District 4 Commissioner Al Mason questioned why people were still quitting even after being given raises in the past and alluded that money might not be the core issue surrounding employee retention.
“We’ve made sure everyone got $30,000, at minimum, there’s been money from ARP, bonuses, the Sheriff’s place got money, cost of living…We owe it to ourselves and the community to find out what’s going on. It could very well be some bad management issues,” Mason said.
Mason’s comments caused Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. to issue a bit of a rebuke as he defended city department heads and stated the post-Covid market has become extremely competitive.
“I want you to keep in mind as the youngest dean on the commission, that even in your previous time, that government was extremely stagnant in terms of wages. What we’ve done over the last eight years is look for every opportunity to become competitive, not only with the public sector, but the private sector as well,” Davis said.
The motion to grant the raises, which will be effective in October, passed on a 6-3 vote.
District 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom was not present for the meeting and did not vote.
In contrast, the vote on tiny homes had no discussion before that measure passed. District 10 Commissioner John Clarke at first attempted to keep the issue off the consent agenda, but then changed his mind, lamenting, “it’s fighting a losing battle.”
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The ordinance, as drafted by Interim Planning and Zoning Director Carla Delaney, defines a tiny house as an on-site built structure or modular (prefabricated) home. Recreational vehicles and homes built on a movable chassis do not qualify under the ordinance.
Tiny homes can come in two varieties — luxury homes built for people seeking the “minimalist lifestyle” and homes built specifically for the homeless and at-risk veterans, she said.
The “minimalist lifestyle” homes would be roughly 450 square feet and come with a price tag of around $250,000. The homes meant to house the homeless and veterans would be much smaller with about 150 to 200 square feet and cost from $107,000 to $150,000.
Delaney’s ordinance has vague language about “quasi-governmental agencies” helping homeless qualify for getting homes, but Clarke has publicly stated that the ordinance leaves open the door for the government to subsidize tiny homes.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
