City budget proposal leaves out judge's request
Interim Administrator Jarvis Sims cranked out his first Augusta governmental budget Tuesday, leaving out many new items sought by city department heads.
The 2020 budget proposal doesn’t provide for a tax increase, includes a 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment for employees effective July 1 and kept funding for non-government agencies flat.
Subject to commission review and approval, Sims’ budget did not include the half-million-dollar budget increase sought by Chief Superior Court Judge Carl Brown for Richmond County Juvenile Court. The request included a raise for Brown’s daughter, an attorney there. Overall, city departments requested more than $183 million to spend.
With $5.7 million in new revenue projected next year from increased tax and fee collections, revenues will total $168 million, Sims said.
About half of the new revenue is already committed to items such as the Gold Cross EMS contract, election expenses, probation and a disparity study, he said.
Among elected officials, the spending plan shows a $25,320 increase for Mayor Hardie Davis’ budget, $10,000 less than he requested, which brings it to $444,410. Funding for Davis’ My Brother’s Keeper program remains at $38,750.
The Augusta Commission will have more money to travel, train and dine next year with an increase of $9,990 in their budget to $357,750. Commissioners on Tuesday also approved replacing their fuel cards with a $500 monthly travel stipend, but the change won’t go into effect until after new commissioners are elected.
Sims increased his office’s budget by $166,230 to almost $1.2 million. The office includes the positions of administrator, two deputy administrators and several administrative staffers.
The budget increases funding for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office by $1.2 million to $64.9 million. Other public safety departments, such as the Richmond County Correctional Institute, animal services, EMS and emergency management, are up $1.1 million to $10.4 million.
The budget adds a handful of new positions – a deputy registrar for elections, a staff attorney, an assistant district attorney and two investigators. It also adds three Richmond County marshals to further combat blight.
It allocates $350,000 for contingencies and $500,000 to increase the city’s reserves.
The commission has budget work sessions scheduled for Oct. 30 and Nov. 6, 8 and 13 with a plan to adopt the budget Nov. 19.
Commissioners deleted an agenda item to discuss the downtown Depot project, citing an upcoming meeting of principals and denied a request for a special exception to open a construction and demolition landfill on Dixon Airline Road.