The Augusta-Richmond County Commission had no choice in offering a severance package to recently appointed Tax Commissioner Chris Johnson.
The vote to allow Johnson the severance was unanimous, and there is a reason for that.
The commission was obliged to grant severance under the Senior Executive Services program that provides certain city employees severance even if they resign to accept another position within the government.
Johnson’s appointment as deputy tax commissioner made him eligible under that program. He was appointed from chief deputy to tax commissioner after Steven Kendrick resigned to run for mayor of Augusta. The rules regarding the program have been changed recently, but Johnson, due to his 10-year tenure was grandfathered in.
Commissioners set Johnson’s tax commissioner salary at $133,708, then accepted his resignation as deputy tax chief and granted him six month’s severance pay at the March 30 meeting. Johnson received a roughly $23,000 annual raise.
Georgia law stipulates that when a person is appointed to a constitutional office within a department, that person enters the job at the salary the person was already making and only holds the position until a special election can be called. However, the Augusta Commission can override the law’s stipulation and grant that person a raise.
According to Johnson, the reason his former position was eligible for such protection is he served at the pleasure of the Constitutional office holder.
“With my job, there is an election for tax commissioner every four years, and so the job was only secure as long as the current tax commissioner remained in office. After four years, a new commissioner could be elected and that person could come in and hire their own staff,” Johnson said.
By accepting the appointment as sitting tax commissioner, Johnson took a risk because he will have to run for the seat in the special called election happening in November if he wants to keep the job.
Johnson said that as a father of five children, four of whom still live at home, he decided to accept the commission’s offer of severance since it was the policy that he was hired under.
“I love my job, and I want to continue as Augusta’s tax commissioner, but I do have a family to care for, and it just made practical sense to accept the commission’s severance offer,” Johnson said.
Johnson says that he has worked side-by-side with Kendrick for more than a decade to create an atmosphere and culture of customer service and that he plans to continue the Kendrick-era policies while instituting some service upgrades himself.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
