The North Augusta City Council adopted the $50,280,526 consolidated budget for fiscal year 2023. The new budget comes with an increase in both property tax and sanitation fees.
According to North Augusta Assistant Administrator Rachelle Moody, the budget calls for a two mil increase to a total of 75.5 mils. Hayes told the council that the city needs the rate increase to fully fund the government without relying on dwindling American Rescue Plan funding.
Councilman Kevin Toole was the lone holdout on agreeing to the millage increase.
“I support the budget; I think it was well put together, I have no issues with it. But I am struggling with the extra half a mil…Even though the half a mil is not a lot of money, our average citizen is still paying eight percent more for everything they are doing,” Toole said.
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North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams defended the tax increase as the responsible thing to do as the city continues to grow and services become more expensive.
“There were a number of years that the city did not build up the capital projects…The way I see it is us being good stewards in, not starting a savings account, but we need to get ourselves into a situation where we are not dependent on outside resources when need be,” Williams said.
On the issue of sanitation fees, the vote was unanimous to allow for a $1.77 per month increase for North Augusta residents and $2.40 for those living outside of the city.
Both resolutions must be voted on in a second reading before becoming final.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
