HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpecial Called Commission Meeting August 9, 2022
CALLED MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER
August 9, 2022
Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 9, 2022,
the Honorable Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding.
PRESENT: Hons. Johnson, Garrett, Mason, Frantom, B. Williams, Scott, McKnight, D.
Williams, Hasan and Clarke, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, before everyone departs, we do have a matter that is before us and that
is the matter of the special Called Meeting to address the millage rate. The Chair recognizes the
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commissioner from the 7.
Mr. Frantom: I have a question for the attorney.
Mr. Brown: Yes, sir.
Mr. Frantom: On a matter like this, does the public have to see the rates publicized before
we can vote on them at least 24 hours in advance? So we’re not voting today then?
Ms. Speaker: No, sir.
Mr. Frantom: Oh, okay.
The Clerk: This is the proposed.
Mr. Frantom: Why would we not stuck this – but why is it on a special called meeting? It
should have been on a regular Commission agenda. A special called is something we’re voting on
to move forward on. That’s what doesn’t make sense, I guess.
Ms. Williams: The timing of the process. Sometimes –
Mr. Frantom: Why don’t you state that so that people hear you for the public.
Ms. Williams: It depends on the timing of the various committee and commission meeting
cycles. It normally, from start to finish requires two weeks and I’ll get into this from the beginning
of the process that starts with the advertisement which happens after today. Because ya’ll’s
meetings are every other week, it doesn’t fit neatly within that 14-day process when it takes more
than 14 days after you get it into the advertising process so this is just the beginning.
Mr. Frantom: Okay, thank you.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, commissioner. Director Williams, if you would proceed with the
presentation.
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Ms. Donna Williams: Good afternoon. This is the very beginning of the 2022 Millage
Rate process. The whole process is prescribed in great detail by the State of Georgia Department
of Revenue, and we are required like every other governing body in the State of Georgia to adhere
to their timeline and their process. The first thing that happens is that once the proposed rates are
agreed upon by this governing body then we would be required to publish what is commonly called
the five-year history of the digest in the newspaper and that officially starts the process which
would trigger any public notices and would trigger any hearings should they be needed. The
second part of the process is that each governing body is required to compute a roll back millage
rate in a formula once again prescribed by the state which is essentially the previous year’s millage
rate minus the equivalent of any growth from reassessment. In years where there is not a good bit
of reassessment that change is usually fairly minimal. In years of a large change to the digest
primarily due to reassessment that roll back computation can be quite substantial and have an
impact that causes a little bit of heartburn to us finance people. At the end of the day if the proposed
rate is higher even by a thousandth of a mill by this computed roll back rate then it triggers another
set of actions that we have to go through. This would be what the five-year history with the digest
would look like once we dropped in the computed roll back rate. Down at the far right 7.986
would be the computed roll back rate if when once we drop the digest numbers and the exemptions
and figure the amount of reassessment equivalent to the millage rate. Last year the rate was 9.045
and the roll back rate computed this year would be the 7.9. Now this looks pretty good, right? It
tells you according to this formula that using that roll back rate on this digest would give the
government another million three. So far it looks pretty good. Why isn’t that an accurate picture
of what really will happen to us with the roll back rate? That is because this computation assumes
a 100% collection rate. Everybody that gets a bill pays 100% of their bill on time this year. That’s
a little unrealistic. It also does not reflect the reduction to revenue that Augusta has put in place
through their early payment discount. That is the equivalent of almost half a million dollars.
Mr. Mayor: Director Williams.
Ms. Williams: Yes, sir.
Mr. Mayor: What is our collection rate?
Ms. Williams: Over time it approaches 99%. That is not the first year. For budgeting
purposes and we budget at 98%. Augusta also has three tax allocation districts. So any collections
related to those tax allocation districts, the equivalent of those, the incremental taxes in those, is
required to be transferred out and back into those tax allocation districts. That money is already
spoken for. This is a picture of what it would look like once you take into those three
considerations that I just noted. So there is the million two that was on the slide previously –
Mr. Mayor: Director Williams.
Ms. Williams: Yes, sir.
Mr. Mayor: Would you go back to the previous slide?
Ms. Williams: Yes, sir.
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Mr. Mayor: And as you note you indicate that Augusta has three TADs and approximately
681 is moved from tax collections. Could you explain to this body why that is and the benefit of
that because I don’t want none to perceive that money is going away. There is an inherent benefit
to TADs that we have and there’s a reason why they exist.
Ms. Williams: Yes, sir, they are beneficial and I did not mean to infer that that was not a
good thing. I was just using it as an example for the math of why the revenue collections are a
little bit lower than what is stated. Okay, I’m getting there, I’m getting there.
Mr. Mayor: Because you don’t want people to perceive that there is a reduction in revenue.
There is a corresponding benefit –
Ms. Williams: Yes, sir.
Mr. Mayor: -- okay.
Ms. Williams: When you enter into a Tax Allocation District, you pledge the increased
tax collections from that district to go back towards the cost of developing that district. And that’s
about as simple as I can make it and hopefully that helps. So there is benefit from TAD but at the
same time a portion of your tax collections are already identified with a specific use. That was the
point I was trying to get to. So when you apply this math to the number that you have already seen
before, the $1.2 million dollars that the state add says that you get from using the roll back rate.
You turn that into a 98% collection rate. That’s $49 million dollars. We have budgeted 48.5 so at
this point in the game we’re still slightly ahead. However, you still have to take into account the
reduced collections because of the early payment discount which is approximately $450,000.
That’s at last year’s rate. It can vary depending on how many taxpayers decide to take advantage
of that discount. Then the allocation to the TAD district and using the roll back rate places us
approximately half a million dollars below the budgeted level of revenue that we approved back
in November. If the governing body adopts a rate that is in any way different than the roll back
rate, it triggers three public hearings and press release and what is called a notice of intent to
increase property taxes. This would be the timeline should Augusta go through that process.
Today, August 9, you would set a proposed rate. That officially sets in motion what the governing
body says that they may adopt. These are the proposed rates. Any time a proposed rate is put out
there, between then and the approval date which would be on August 30 the Commission can lower
a proposed rate. You cannot go up on a proposed rate without restarting the process at its
beginning. So if the Commission sets the proposed rates today, the required five-year history with
those proposed rates would appear in the newspaper. That starts the official calendar for the
minimum of the two-week cycle. You would put forth a notice of when public hearings would be
had, the first two, and then you would hold those hearings, the suggestion is on August 22, there
has to be a prescribed amount of time between the hearings and between each part of the process.
On August 22 both those hearings would be held. One is required to start before noon, the other
at 6:00 p.m. or later, and then you would also advertise that third meeting. The third meeting must
be advertised at least seven days prior to the date that you hold the third meeting which can also
be the date that you adopt the mill rates. That adoption date, if you adopt this schedule, would be
August 30. The Tax Commissioner has relayed to us that this is approximately the last date that
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they can use in order to get the bills out in a timely manner. This is the crux of the matter here.
These are the proposed rates that are being recommended today. For the general fund 8.411, for
urban services capital outlay and the Blythe Fire District would be, the recommended rates would
be the same rate as in 2021 and for the fire protection we are proposing a quarter of a mill increase
from the 2021 rate. Let me run through the tax cap with you for just a minute. There is a formula
that was adopted historically and it came into effect in 1979. It sets a tax cap for each of the three
taxing districts, the millage rates that you have, the general fund, urban services and fire protection.
Urban services and fire protection typically have no, there are no limitations by their tax cap nor
have we ever approached that cap. We have flirted with it a time or two in the general fund but
with the proposed rate for 2022 there would be no difference between the total millage rate and
the total tax cap. Let me explain that in just a second. The tax cap changes every year. It is a
computation that has a base rate and then a fraction which is comprised of the prior year digest
and the current year digest. Very simply put if the current year’s digest is larger than the digest of
the prior year the tax cap goes down. How fast it goes down depends on how big the change in
the digest is. If there’s a little bitty change from one year to the next, the tax cap moves a tiny,
tiny little bit. If there is a big swing in the digest from one year to the next, the tax cap changes
pretty drastically. For example, in 2021 the countywide millage rate was one a half mills below
the tax cap. Tax cap in 2021 was 17.236. This year the tax cap is 15.21. The change in the digest
caused the tax cap to decrease by over two mills. Sales tax collections make up some of the room
between zero and where the tax cap is. This year the sales tax collections took up more of the
available millage rate, a little over a tenth. This is a bunch of words so this illustration may help.
2021, as I said, the tax cap was 17.236 mills. 2022, it’s only 15.21 mills. Starting at the bottom
you’ve got the capital outlay millage rate .722. You add onto that the sales tax credit, this is your
local option sales tax, it has nothing to do with SPLOST. Local option sales tax are required roll
back on the millage rate for your property taxes. So in 2021 that computed amount was 5.966
mills. The sales tax credit for 2022 is slightly larger, a little over six mills. In 2021 the net mill
rate was 9.045. That still left you 1.5 mills below the cap of 17.236. In 2022 even by levying a
lower millage rate than what was done in 2022 the proposed rate is 8.411. It puts you at the 15.21
so it leaves you no room primarily because simply put the ceiling is lower. You just don’t have
the same amount of room up under the tax cap. Why fire protection a recommended increase?
And a difficult conversation. $14.6 million dollars is needed for equipment replacement over the
next three years. For the first time in SPLOST, there was no funding allocation for fire equipment.
In SPLOST 7 there was $6 million dollars that got them through their, half of their equipment
needs. The rest comes out of their general operation millage rate. That’s how fire protection is
funded. Fire revenue comes from two places. It comes from the ad valorem tax collections and it
comes from insurance premium taxes that comes straight from the state. The control is a revenue,
the piece that this body has control of is the ad valorem tax collection rate. If an additional .25
mills, a quarter of a mill, was added to the 2021 fire protection millage rate, it would generate
approximately $2.3 million dollars to begin to offset the equipment needs for fire protection.
Mr. Garrett: Can I ask a question while we’re talking about fire?
Mr. Mayor: I would like for you to ask a series of questions.
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Mr. Garrett: This question is for the Fire Chief, if that’s okay. Before we get to you, Chief,
if we do this rate for the fire protection as you’re suggesting, how much additional will that bring
in per year for fire? Will it get them their $14.6 for the three years?
Ms. Williams: It won’t quite get them there. The additional quarter of a mill plus the
digest growth that we’ve seen this year for 2022 will bring in $2.3 million dollars. That should be
ongoing but it’s still obviously a little short of the $14.6.
Mr. Garrett: Chief, I’m sure that you’ve been part of this process of getting here and we’re
hearing about the equipment failures and all of that and that was all pre-you. Is this increase
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specifically for the equipment or is it for the 4 battalion that’s being discussed about adding that
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4 battalion?
Chief Burden: I’d say a little bit of both, Commissioner. As you’re aware, when it comes
to the capital needs of the department, fire trucks being the second largest of those capital needs,
and as you’re also aware, fire trucks, vehicles and equipment, those apparatuses were not part of
SPLOST 8.
Mr. Garrett: Understood.
Chief Burden: Which left us no funding mechanism for those vehicles.
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Mr. Garrett: In regards to adding that 4 battalion which is traditionally going to add about
$300,000 to $400,000 extra to your budget needs per year, do you think it’s time to do that
especially with the equipment problems that you’re experiencing or should that be something that
we consider pushing for a more robust conversation in the future than trying to implement it this
way?
Chief Burden: I definitely think it’s time, Commissioner. I think we’re overdue in adding
those resources and that critical oversight to the department. I think it’s something that should
have been in place quite some time ago.
Mr. Garrett: It all comes back to the conversations when we’re finding out about these
conversations not from you that’s a little shocking but that’s beside the point. I just wanted to
make sure I was tracking because I kind of assumed that that was going to be part of this increase.
Ms. Douse: Commissioner, the Administrator’s Office nor the Finance Department has
had conversations with the Fire Chief concerning this increase. As you know it is proposed but it
is our recommendation, my recommendation as the Interim Administrator, that these dollars go
towards his capital needs particularly his equipment.
Mr. Garrett: And is there a way to specifically specify that?
Ms. Douse: Yes, there is.
Mr. Garrett: Okay, thank you.
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Mr. Hasan: I have a question, Mr. Mayor. I think what I just heard though is going to put
him back in the box if you make it just for capital needs. He’s just saying to us that it’s something
that he just wants to haphazardly do. He is saying that it’s something that should have been done
and if we’ve got an opportunity to do it, we ought to allow him to do it and not just make sure it’s
for capital needs. He’s saying he needs both of those things to happen simultaneously, this
enhancement here, will allow him to do the thing to fully function and allow him to do that. Now
if I misunderstood what you were saying, I completely apologize. I think I was half asleep and
woke up.
Mr. Garrett: Commissioner Hasan, and to your point I think that that is a discussion that
we should be having during the budget process as we’re talking about adding positions and things
like that. I think that’s part of the bigger conversation I was hoping that was going to take place.
Mr. Mayor: It absolutely will take place because you’ll make sure it does and I’ll help you
with that.
Ms. Williams: To expound on that the Fire Department’s operational needs are funded this
year. They are fully funded. His capital needs are not. So hence the suggestion to designate this
towards capital and this is not a new approach. Those of you who have been around or are
watching this, we actually did this some years ago. We levied an additional quarter of a mill for
capital replacement however with the expansion and new stations getting added on and new
personnel added, eventually that ate up those resources but there were resources in SPLOST that
took care of the Fire Department’s capital needs. Those resources are not available throughout
SPLOST 8. You’re looking at a long period of time without any designated funding to help buy
equipment and fire equipment, technically, it’s not cheap.
Mr. Mayor: Administrator Douse.
Ms. Douse: Commissioners, I also wanted to just add to this point that the Fire
Department’s operational needs for this year are budgeted so concerning the additional battalion,
those needs are already taken care of and of course we are entering into planning for fiscal year
’23 in which those operational needs will be covered at that time.
Mr. Mayor: I was going to say something but it will start a fight. I won’t do it.
Ms. Williams: Okay, this is the slide that everybody probably wants to see. What happens
to the hundred-thousand-dollar house if we go through with the proposed millage rates that have
been recommended. So if your hundred thousand dollar house stayed a hundred thousand dollar
house and it’s not on this slide and if you were one of those people that your property value did
not increase, you can go yay, my property value did not increase, but at the same time if you go to
sell your house you’re going to be a little bit on the short side. If your hundred-thousand-dollar
house stayed at a hundred-thousand-dollar house, your taxes would go down about 20 bucks. If
your hundred-thousand-dollar house increased in value, approximately 18% which is I think the
rough average that I got from the Tax Assessor was somewhere between 16 and 18, that seemed
to be a comfortable number to use, that hundred-thousand-dollar house is now worth $118,000
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house. At 40% of its assessed value, that’s $47,200 and last year homestead exemption which in
Richmond County for the normal homestead exemption is $5,000. So that gives you $42,200 for
your taxable value of your house. Go through the scenario in your suburban district in 2021 you
pay $410.00 on that hundred-thousand-dollar house. With the proposed rates from 2022 in the
suburban district on the $118,000 house the tax bill would be $478.00. It’s an increase of $68 or
something just below six or seven dollars a month so a couple of gallons of gas a month depending
on where gas is right now. I used to use a gallon of milk, but it fluctuates kind of like gas to tell
you the truth. But that would be the difference applying each one of the millage rates that I’ve
proposed. $68 in the suburban district on that now $118,000 house or in the urban service district,
it would be $78 on that same $118,000 house that last year was $100,000 house. Those are the
recommendations. This would be the action if you choose to do so is to approve the proposed
rates. Remember step one. This is just the proposal. This triggers the advertisement and this starts
the process.
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Mr. Mayor: I’ll go to the commissioner from the 7, then the 1 and I’ll come back to the
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8.
Mr. Frantom: First off like the screen when we first, this is why I asked the question that
we weren’t voting today and then I don’t know why this is on the screen because we said we
weren’t voting and I think that’s why my colleague left because we said we weren’t voting today
so let me first say that. Ms. Williams, the fire revenue is $2.3 million. What is the tax increase
for the general fund revenue when we go from 7.98 to 8.411? What is the increase in general fund
dollars?
Ms. Williams: I’m not calculating an increase from the 7.9 because 7.9 puts us behind the
eight ball. As I said that puts us a half a million dollars short of your budget but the 8.4 you would
generate approximately $2.1 million dollars over your revenue budget that has been set for ad
valorem taxes.
Mr. Frantom: So in the proposed $2.1 million dollar tax increase for the general fund, 2.3
into the fire, Blythe as far as that increase, they know that. We’re good, all that, we can do that
with the increase in Blythe from the 2.6 to the 3.2?
Ms. Williams: We set the millage rate for fire protection for Blythe and it is separate from
the regular fire protection millage rate because they get a direct allocation of insurance premium
taxes.
Mr. Frantom: And then as far as the sales tax credit, we’re at the cap at that 6.077?
Ms. Williams: That’s not a cap, sir. That’s just a computation of the actual amount of
sales tax that we received in 2021 turned into a millage rate.
Mr. Frantom: That’s a perfect answer because we continue to talk about how our sales tax
revenue is up and my question is can we not increase that or does that need to stay where it’s at?
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Ms. Williams: It’s a mathematical computation that it cannot change. (inaudible) sales tax
credit that is the collections divided by the digest equals the (inaudible).
Mr. Frantom: Okay, so based on what the roll back is versus what the recommended
millage rate is, how much are we short in the general fund budget if we go with the roll back rate?
Ms. Williams: A half a million dollars.
Mr. Frantom: A half a million dollars, okay. And we still haven’t talked about street lights,
we still haven talked about the compensation study was something this government wanted to talk
about from a budgetary standpoint. We still haven’t talked about Parks and Rec and their needs.
We talked last week about how well from a sales tax revenue, the American Rescue Funds where
we got $86 million, the stormwater fee and we’ve got money. I think that, I would hope that this
body would have this conversation about where we can find $500,000 before we just go and
approve something where there is a $1.5 million dollar surplus when you look at all this money
we’ve been taking in and people are hurting. So I would hope we would get to have those
conversations before we finally approve this because based on my conversation with Scott like
65% of the homeowners in Richmond County increased their property values so that’s a tax
increase for 65% of Richmond County and they all need to know that. And I just think at this time
for what we’ve done, how well we’ve been good stewards of this money, how well we’ve gotten
all these other revenue sources coming in that we really need to look at what we can sharpen the
pencil on our end before we go and approved a recommended rate that’s going to put more on the
taxpayers. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
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Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Commissioner from the 1.
Mr. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And that really leads into the question that I have.
I mean an extra couple of cents can put people in really tough shape financially. I understand that
we have a fiduciary responsibility for the government but we also have it for the taxpayers as well.
I know we have things to cover but it’s difficult sometimes to kind of face that one on one being
that you know you’ve got so many people that may be in hard positions if we went certain routes
so the only question that I have, I’m comprehending where we’re going. The only question I have
is what can be done to help the senior citizen in whatever neighborhood that cannot afford an extra
60 bucks or extra 7 bucks a month or whatever the case, what can we do from a policy perspective
to help that senior or just to help that general person as well. We showed on the presentation a
homestead exemption but that’s granted at the age to get it. Can you help me understand this?
Ms. Williams: The $5,000 homestead exemption is available to anyone. There are
probably 17 or 18 other types of exemptions that are available. Over 65. Help me, Ms. Douse, you
worked in Tax Commissioner’s office. There’s double exemption $10,000. Anybody over 65
pays no school board taxes at all which is 75% of their tax bill --
Mr. Johnson: Is that automatic or do they have to apply for it?
Ms. Williams: You just go in and show them your birth certificate and file for it. It’s a
painless process. There is the early payment discount that we mentioned which all mortgage
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companies are required to do that. If you have an escrow account and it pays your taxes for you,
they are required to take advantage of that early payment discount. There are veterans exemptions,
there are exemptions for disabled. I would not begin to dive any further down in that.
Mr. Johnson: I’m all for doing what’s best for the City of course but I hope that in the
future we’ll be able to kind of look and definitely I’m going to direct this to Scott as well because
you’re going to have to be instrumental here as well is that we need to be looking at ways to kind
of help those seniors who are on fixed incomes. When the values went up in Sand Hills, my phone
rang the entire week so much so we had to have a special town hall up there just to kind of get
folks to understand what’s going on. That’s apples to oranges a little bit but I want us to be thinking
along those lines and that was really the only question. I don’t need to go any further than that.
Ms. Williams: On consent just a few minutes ago your medical contract for your prisoners
at the Jail went up half a million dollars. So not only are you looking at that half a million dollars
that you may be short here as you’re widening the gap possibly with your expenditures. You’ve
got to be able to provide the resources to do what you guys want to get done. We hear you know
all the projects. Projects require resources.
Mr. Mayor: Director Williams, I think this body understands that projects require
resources. We just had a conversation with the Fire Chief. Prior to the Fire Chief we had a
conversation with Director Malik about resources versus priorities. I don’t think that’s the issue.
The challenge for this body right now is this is a conversation that we should have known we were
going to have last week and we knew we were going to have it and now we’re having it in a special
called meeting where initially we said we were not going to vote on anything but we’re going to
vote on something because you want us to, you need us to and my challenge, my frustration right
now in all candor is how we’re articulating this half a million dollar shortfall. The reality of it is if
you go back to page 6, slide 6 of your presentation how you’re trying to articulate that is just not
–
Ms. Williams: (inaudible) is not slight of hand here, sir.
Mr. Mayor: What you’ll never have to worry about is me saying slight of hand because
I’m just going to come out and say it. I think ya’ll know that now in my eight years. I’m trying
to walk into it gracefully from the standpoint of we’re not telling the full story. I mean the reality
of it is you’ve got $450,000 because you’re incentivizing people to pay their taxes. Okay? The
second piece is we’re encouraging people to make investments and redeveloping in our city which
is why you have three TADs. And because of that here’s the benefit and there is for lack of another
word, it’s late in the afternoon, my eyes are hurting, there’s a trade off today. And so to suggest
we’re in a hole because you know the money’s just not there, that’s not true.
Ms. Williams: That slide is intended to represent the money that is collected after various
things happen versus budgeting. There is no economic impact built into it. It’s just hard dollar
collections shown on that slide.
Mr. Mayor: Yeah, but we’re sitting here for the (inaudible) and Alan Lyles and Garnett
Lewises or whatever his name is, Gardelle Lewises of the world who sit and write these silly things,
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you know. They’re paying attention to this and saying you know, you guys are just mismanaging,
misappropriating dollars and that’s not true because they hear a piece without telling the full story
and until January 2 I’m going to just encourage everybody to tell the full story. Tell the full story
that there’s a hotel right over here called the Holiday Inn Express that’s in the TAD that was
renovated when it was a dump and now you’ve got a valuable piece of property over there because
of this. You go down the street and I can talk about $350 million dollars’ worth of investment.
Tell the full story. I’m on your team, we’re on the same team. Just tell the full story. Commissioner
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from the 8 and then the Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Mayor. This might be the first time in our four-year history of
working together that I agree wholeheartedly with you. I tell people all the time we have to tell
our story and when we’re getting slides like this that tell a story, I know that you’re just trying to,
you’re a numbers person so I think I kind of understand why you tell the story the way that you do
but when it comes to us and like the folks that they Mayor mentioned that are watching us and that
will see these slides, that will copy them and then they’re going to share them on social media,
you’ve got the news out here reporting on what’s being said up here, all they’re hearing is tax
increase, tax increase, tax increase, Augusta’s wasting money. That’s not what is taking place
here. And you know until we’re able to tell the entire story, like the tax cap. Nobody has
mentioned at all today that Augusta, Georgia is the only entity in the state of Georgia that has a
tax cap that is imposed on us. It’s been imposed on us since 1979. But the fact that we have to
operate under that thumb that’s continually pressing down on any opportunity that we have to help
grow and sustain, you know, that is the story that we need to be telling. Most of our citizens don’t
understand that. They don’t see it. People ask all the time how is Columbus able to catch up with
Augusta. Guess what? They’re not operating under a tax cap. How is all these cities around
Atlanta growing and busting at the seams? They’re not operating under a tax cap. Nothing is
holding them back and so until our state hears from us that we need to remove that and to actually
work towards getting our community to fully understand that that is one of the things that is holding
us back we’re not telling the full story. But when you’re talking about this, when you’re throwing
out the full roll back and then you’re saying well, but here’s the proposed and if we do the proposed
which is going to provide the services that we need, it’s going to be a tax increase so I need you to
make a decision on that today so we can stay on some preconceived schedule that we found out
about when you started giving this presentation, I’m sorry. That’s unfair to us. It’s unfair to us
because we have to answer the questions to the citizens. You’re not getting those calls. So I think
there is a much more robust conversation that we have to have in regards to all of this.
Mr. Mayor: Administrator Douse and then the Mayor Pro Tem is going to close us out and
he’s going to passionately make a motion.
Ms. Douse: Commissioners, please keep in mind that today’s request is for you to approve
the proposed rates and with that will be additional public hearings as well as if the commissioners
are requesting information from the Finance Department or even the Administrator’s Office prior
to August 30, we’ll be more than happy to give you that information but this request today is a
requirement for the information, the five-year-history to be advertised which will in fact assist with
keeping us on schedule with the Tax Commissioner’s office.
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Mr. Mayor: And the Mayor Pro Tem will take the slide that’s in front of him and
passionately ask a series of questions followed by a passionate motion.
Mr. B. Williams: Yeah, un-huh. Yeah, un-huh. I’m just going to pick up where
Commissioner Garrett, what did you call it (inaudible), I was trying to figure out what is a
(inaudible). Ms. Williams, you don’t know which way to go because people are talking about tax
increases, roll backs, tax caps and all that kind of stuff. I’m just going to make a general statement
in general. Here in Augusta we always talk about what everybody else is doing and we say we
need to catch up. No, they’re trying to catch up to us because you know they mentioned, somebody
mentioned to me North Augusta is building something they were building over there and we
already have one of those things. An amphitheater. We already have one, we just need to improve
it. We’re doing a lot of stuff. We’re doing roads and talking about fire and fire stations, their
equipment and what have you. We look at what we do at the Commons on Sunday and we go out
there and enjoy ourselves and we have a good time. But those things cost money. But what some
of us don’t realize is that you have to pay taxes and sometimes taxes may be increased. You’re
talking about, you’re recommending tax reform or whatever it is that we’re going to vote on in a
minute. My thing is that when I leave my subdivision and go down the roads in Richmond County,
I don’t want to see blight. I want to see improvements, I want to see new buildings, I want to see
Augusta growing. Some of us don’t understand that Augusta can’t grow if we stay in the same
roadway. If we don’t increase taxes from time to time because it will be a time when you need to
increase them and sometimes when you want to give the people a little money back or what have
you, I guess you call that a roll back or something. We had people in here, they were mad because
they had to pay so much taxes on their homes and what have you and she’s going to get me but
had the young lady in here a week or so ago talked about her taxes being so much and then they
came out to the house to take a look at it, her taxes increased by $300 because she didn’t realize
that she had made a lot of improvements and they didn’t know about the improvements. I said all
of this to say that sometimes if you want something worthwhile, you’re going to have to pay
something for it whether you roll it back, whether you increase it, whether you stay the same, taxes
are necessary. I don’t really want to hear about North Augusta, Columbia County, Burke County,
all those other folks. I want to see what we’re doing in Augusta, Georgia because Augusta, Georgia
is dear to my heart. We need to make the improvements; we need to get up off of our tails as
commissioners and make the vote that we need to make in order to make this go because Augusta
is number one and we should treat it that way. With that said would you like to say anything to
me, Ms. Williams? You’ve got anything? I’m going to make the motion. Is this what it is in front
of my today?
The Clerk: Yes, sir.
Mr. B. Williams: A motion to approve proposed 2022 mill rates for each taxing district,
advertise the required five-year-history of the digest and to schedule the date of August 30, 2022
for the meeting to adopt the rates proposed.
Mr. Hasan: Second.
Mr. Frantom: Point of clarity.
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Mr. Mayor: State your inquiry.
Mr. B. Williams: Point of clarity.
Mr. Frantom: Is this for the recommended rates, voting for the recommended rates for
2022? Is that what this vote is? Okay. Mr. Mayor, I’d like to make a substitute motion.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
Mr. Frantom: I’d like to make a motion for the calculated roll back rates in the middle of
the one that we saw on slide 9 in the middle that makes it flat and no tax increase for the taxpayers.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
Ms. McKnight: Second.
Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a motion with a proper second. Voting. Substitute, rather,
substitute motion with a proper second.
Mr. Johnson, Mr. D. Williams, Mr. B. Williams, Mr. Hasan and Ms. Scott vote No.
Motion fails 4-5.
Mr. Mayor: All right, we’re back to the motion as presented. Voting.
Mr. Hasan: This is just proposed.
Mr. Mayor: I think everyone understands this is the proposed mill rate and it’s not an
adopted rate. There’s time to change and decide between now and 30 August. Okay? Between
now and 30 August. All right. Voting.
Mr. Frantom, Mr. Garrett, Mr. Clarke and Ms. McKnight vote No.
Motion fails 5-4.
Mr. Mayor: Now let me talk about what our posture can be. The reality of it is tax bills
are going to go out. It’s no worries. We’ve been here before. We’ve had this conversation. As I
understand it if these slides and the vote is on next week, we’ve still got sufficient enough time to
make the tax bills as well as the public hearings based on the dates in front of us. Is that not true?
Administrator Douse.
Ms. Douse: You’re correct, Mayor Davis, however we would have to schedule another
special called meeting for the commissioners to vote on this matter to advertise in a timely fashion.
Mr. Mayor: Well, we could advertise it by Friday that it’s going to take place on Tuesday
at 2:05.
The Clerk: You’ve got to advertise the rates in the newspaper.
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Mr. Mayor: I understand. So somewhere between now and –
Ms. Williams: The advertisement needs to appear in the paper no later than Monday for a
proposed rate other than the roll back rate. The roll back rate goes through, it shorts the time frame
by an entire week.
Mr. Mayor: And if memory doesn’t serve me well, tax bills go out at the middle of
September? Okay.
Ms. Williams: Yes, sir. The issue that the Tax Commissioner and the Tax Assessor find
is that they have to get an appointment with the Department of Revenue to have the digest
approved. That is a whole process in and of itself before they can send those bills out and there is
th
a deadline on the 30, August 30 –
Mr. Mayor: September 1.
Ms. Williams: September 1 to get that done hence us backing up and trying to devise a
timeline that would let that happen on time.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right. I’m not going to push one way or another. I know we can get
this done because the conundrum is that you’re really concerned about publishing it in the
newspaper which I think has not been done to date, right?
Ms. Williams: You can’t.
Mr. Mayor: Right. So maybe what should have happened is we should have said let’s vote
on it so we can publish it in the newspaper. Okay, to that end, yeah, we’ll have another
corresponding action. We’ll get it done. This meeting stands adjourned.
\[MEETING ADJOURNED\]
Lena J. Bonner
Clerk of Commission
CERTIFICATION:
I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy
of the minutes of the Called Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on
August 9, 2022.
________________________
Clerk of Commission
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