Commission Could Boost Spending on Law Enforcement, Housing and Landscaping

May 22, 2024

Athens-Clarke County commissioners aren’t interested in raising taxes this year—nor are most interested in cutting them—but they have a laundry list of items they want to add to Mayor Kelly Girtz’s proposed budget. Luckily, there may be other sources of funding for those additions.

“Each department is telling us they’re struggling to meet the needs of the community,” Commissioner Patrick Davenport said at a May 16 budget hearing. Commissioner Jesse Houle cited years of deferred maintenance as the commission sought to cut the tax rate in recent years, some of it even dating back to Great Recession budget cuts that were never fully restored.

One thing all commissioners seem to agree on is the need for more frequent roadside mowing. Manager Blaine Williams said the county could hire private services to supplement government landscaping crews for less than $100,000.

Another is the staffing shortage in the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office. For several years Sheriff John Q. Williams has demanded pay parity with police, but deputies still make about $5,000 less than police officers, and their signing bonuses are smaller. Closing the gap would cost about $900,000. Williams pointed to the discrepancy as the reason why his department is down 45 employees, while police are fully staffed.

“There’s going to be more arrests” now that the police department is at full strength, Williams said at a May 14 meeting between the commission and constitutional officers like the sheriff, district attorney and judges. “There’s going to be more people in jail. We don’t have staff to open more pods. We’re going to have people sleeping on floors.”

Williams also complained about the quality of the food prepared at the nearby state correctional facility, which delivers meals to the jail, and asked for funding to build out the jail’s kitchen and hire a vendor to prepare meals at the jail.

A $150,000 request from DA Deborah Gonzalez to continue paying American Rescue Plan Act-funded paralegals and administrative staff with local dollars is likely to be approved as well. The cost would be somewhat offset because Gonzalez withdrew a $43,000 request for contract attorneys. They’re no longer needed because Gonzalez said she recently hired six new assistant DAs for the chronically short-staffed office.

Less clear is how much money the commission will devote to affordable housing. Girtz included $1 million for a “strike fund” to buy and renovate distressed properties. But a 2023 study recommended that ACC spend $5 million a year. Commissioner Ovita Thornton said she is skeptical of even the $1 million figure, while commissioners Jesse Houle and Carol Myers pushed for more.

The state legislature passed a tax reform package that, if voters approve it in November, will cap increases in property values and allow local governments to raise sales taxes to offset property taxes. Girtz has floated a plan for a 1% sales tax hike next year, with $12 million a year going to affordable housing and $6 million a year for youth programs. The other half would allow for an approximately 2.5-mill property tax cut.

A grant intended for the police department could be used to boost signing bonuses for sheriff’s deputies instead, Manager Blaine Williams told commissioners last week. About $3.2 million in interest earned on federal ARPA dollars is also sitting in ACC’s bank account waiting to be allocated, he said.

Williams also has his own wants that he is trying to protect in Girtz’s budget, such as adding a third assistant manager. That would allow Williams to spend more time interacting with elected officials and the general public, he said.

Girtz rejected about 80% of budget requests from county officials, opting to add just 19 new positions to a government that employs almost 1,800 people. The $194 million budget is 3.7% higher than the current year’s, but most of that additional money is going toward employee raises and covering health care and pension costs as ACC seeks to fill “huge vacancies that have really pushed people to their limit,” as Williams put it.

“These requests are not frivolous,” he said. “They’re things we need to do to move the community forward.”

Taxpayers can comment on the budget at the commission’s agenda-setting meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 22 at the Clarke County School District headquarters at 595 Prince Ave., where the commission is temporarily meeting while new security measures are installed at City Hall. What will likely be the final budget review session before a June 4 vote is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. May 23 at the planning department auditorium at 120 W. Dougherty St.

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