Columbus City Council will delay implementing pay raises for hourly employees due to the city’s murky financial situation.
The council approved a 75-cent-per-hour raise for hourly employees last month. Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard pushed for the raises, arguing the city could take money from the general fund and the insurance fund to cover the cost for the remainder of this fiscal year.
At a work session last week, Interim Chief Operations Officer Mark Alexander Jr. and Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell pushed back on Beard’s figures, saying that it would cost more than $600,000 to fund, rather than the $380,000 Beard had estimated.
Department heads also argued it was unfair they had been left out of the raises, and Mayor Keith Gaskin said that city accounts had not been reconciled with the bank statements in quite some time. So there is not a clear picture of how much cash, exactly, is on hand.
On Tuesday, Gaskin said, while city workers were “overdue” for a raise, he did not think moving forward was a wise idea until financial questions could be answered.
“(Watkins Ward and Stafford certified public accountant Wanda Holley) also reminded me that when you make raises like this in a year when it’s not budgeted, it’s a potential citing in the next audit,” he said. “It is my sincere belief we are not in a financial situation to give raises.”
Watkins, Ward and Stafford is the contracted firm that conducts the city’s annual audit.
Gaskin suggested waiting until the vacant COO and chief financial officer positions are filled and more information is available. The city is reviewing applications for those positions currently.
“(Holley) told me the last time our books were reconciled consistently and without mistakes was Sept. 30, 2020,” Gaskin said. “We don’t know exactly where we’re standing, and I would hate to not be able to make payroll. It’s important we keep our reserve budgets where we are, and with the insurance (fund) there is always a chance of emergencies or things that are unforeseen.”
Beard fights to move forward with raises in January
Beard disagreed, arguing the figures Alexander provided were too high because they were the cost for a full year, and the raises would not take effect until January, the fourth month of the city’s fiscal year.
“October, November and December is already gone,” he said. “When you did those numbers I’m guessing you forgot they’re not getting raises for that. If we can’t do it from the general fund, we still have $1.3 million in the insurance fund. (Mitchell) said only $770,000 of that was needed.”
Mitchell said she could not say for certain what was in the insurance fund right now.”
The city is self-insured and maintains a fund within the budget that is used to pay employee health claims. An outside company steps in when claims get too large, but Mitchell has said on several occasions that the amount of money held back doesn’t need to fall below about $770,000 in case of large or unexpected costs.
“It has not been touched since (former CFO Deliah Vaughn) left,” Mitchell said. “I don’t know the formula that fuels that fund, I don’t know if it’s based on a combination of employee contributions, city contributions, and claims, so that amount that appears on the account has not moved. I’m unsure how much is in there and I don’t feel comfortable saying there is $1.3 million.”
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens asked Mitchell how long she thought it would take to fill the vacant CFO and COO positions, and she estimated hires by mid-to-late January.
“We need to put everything on hold until we have someone in place who can look at these books and reconcile them and see exactly where we’re at instead of guessing,” Mickens said. “I’m not saying take this away from the employees. I’m just saying set it back maybe until March. Then he can tell us where the funds are coming from going forward to make it work.”
Mickens moved, seconded by Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene, to delay the raises until the city can determine an accurate financial picture. It passed 4-2, with Mickens, Greene, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco voting yes and Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart and Beard voting no.
“If our bank statements haven’t been reconciled, and we’re not sure where we are, controls haven’t been put into place,” DiCicco said. “I think a forensic audit needs to come up again.”
Beard fired back with criticism of Alexander and interim CFO Mike Bernsen.
“We have someone that’s been working in these interim positions,” Beard said. “What are they up there doing? We got an interim COO, his original term was three to six months and he has not been at the last three council meetings. We can’t ask him any questions. Everything is a big assumption now. (Bernsen) is stepping in as interim CFO, and we bring up the last CFO didn’t reconcile the bank statements. We got a CFO sitting down there now who’s not reconciling the bank statements.”
Later in the meeting, the council appointed a hiring committee to assess and interview applicants for COO, CFO and information-technology director.
Stewart, Greene, Beard and DiCicco all volunteered to serve, along with Gaskin and Mitchell. By the time the application period closed, the city received 96 applications: 32 for COO, 38 for CFO and 26 for the IT director.
Garbage rates, other business
The council also voted Tuesday to raise garbage collection fees.
Golden Triangle Waste Services increased its charge to collect garbage 53 cents per household per month, effective Jan. 1, 2022. This means the amount charged to the city for pickup will increase from $10.37 to $10.90, according to Public Information Officer Joe Dillon.
“Right now the city charges citizens $17,” Dillon said. “We pay a 3 percent fee to Columbus Light and Water for doing billing collection. They asked us that if we increase the rate that we do it in an even amount because it makes it easier to do the bookkeeping.”
Jones moved to increase customer rates by 50 cents, seconded by Stewart. The motion passed unanimously.
The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, who also uses GTWS, discussed the price hike Monday but took no action.
In other business, City Attorney Jeff Turnage told the council that the city would receive $215,323 in settlement money from the ongoing lawsuits against opioid manufacturers. The council also approved a food truck ordinance requiring, among other things, for food truck owners to obtain a $100 mobile food vending license that will require annual renewal.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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