Audit shows Augusta is awash in unspent stormwater funds
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Augusta takes in millions more in stormwater fees than it spends, an audit shows.
The Mauldin & Jenkins firm gave an audit presentation at Tuesday’s Augusta Commission meeting, emphasizing that the process was delayed for months by the May cyberattack on the city’s computer systems.
Although the report to the Georgia Government Finance Association shows clean spending, it may surprise some residents that the city has a surplus in stormwater fees.
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This despite the number of stormwater problems that continue in the community.
Problems in the flood-prone Harrisburg neighborhood.
Also, issues like toilets and sinks when invading stormwater overwhelms the sewer system.
Just in the past few months, News 12 has reported these neighbors’ plight in several stories:
- After years, sewage still spews during storms in south Augusta
- From goop to poop, flooding’s filthy aftermath lingers
- Flooding questions go unanswered by city of Augusta
- Flooding victims still seeking answers from city of Augusta
- Augusta residents react to clogged storm drains
- ‘Worst day of your life’: Flood victims turn to Red Cross
- Augusta residents frustrated after storm brings flooding
The presentation to city leaders showed just under $20 million in collected stormwater fees, with higher revenue than money spent.
“I think as a city we could do a better job of that,” said Mayor Garnett Johnson. “We continue to have these neighborhoods that unfortunately when we get the slightest amounts of rain, they continue to flood.”
The charts show fire protection expenditures are consistently higher than both the revenues and the fund balance.
The report is 300 pages long, so the presentation focused on highlights like these:
At Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner Jordan Johnson challenged Mayor Garnett Johnson’s plan to take $25,000 of his budget surplus from last year and roll it over into this year.
This would technically raise the mayor’s annual budget for 2024 by $25,000.
The commission was urged to be cautious in using this money, especially for buying new furniture.
District 6 Commissioner, Tony Lewis, said: “It’s strange to me that with the Mayor being in that office for one year, that now all of a sudden, January, they see that they need new furniture.”
The mayor retorted, saying the rollover is a sign of being fiscally conservative, and he encourages other departments with unused funds from the previous year to do the same.
“Any department that comes before this body, who says, I can save you 10%, but let me hold the rest back, that’s a benefit to this government,” said Mayor Johnson.
He said his comments about replacing furniture are just general statements. He said the money could also go toward replacing old flags around Augusta.
Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight ed the mayor.
In the end, the money was approved 7-2 with Commissioners Tony Lewis and Alvin Mason voting no.
Rising trash rates
It looks like trash rates in Augusta-Richmond County might inevitably be going up for everyone in Augusta-Richmond County.
With a looming deadline for a trash collection contract in the zone that includes downtown and west Augusta, it looks like trash collection rates could rise there by 20%, or about $10 a month under a new contract.
Dr. Hamid Malik, Augusta’s director of engineering, says this increase is inevitable for the whole county in coming years.
Augusta Commission don’t like the price increase, so they’re looking to try and procure another contractor.
“We believe that folks are already having a hard time paying what they do and so having one side of town pay more but receive less is not going to cut it for me. And so the conversation needs to continue, we’re going to have another conversation at the next Engineering Services committee to make sure that we know how to spread out these costs across the county so that one side of town isn’t absorbing the cost over another,” said Commissioner Jordan Johnson.
Some are challenged by the idea of different parts of Augusta being charged more than others, and they want to look into consolidating the same trash service contract over the entire county.
Commissioners want the City ’s Office to come back in three weeks with options to include offsetting the future increases.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting:
- ”Coaching Boys into Men” was approved for a pair of $5,000 grants for programs that keep kids into activities rather than committing violence.
- $6,200 was approved toward a sign for the Tom Wedemeier Utilities Building.
- $350,000 in American Rescue Plan funds are being moved to Engineering
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