Columbus councilmen adopted a millage rate of 107.08 for the city and school district effective Oct. 1 after holding a public hearing Thursday on its proposed budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
Of that, 41.23 mills will go to the city for general purposes, a disability and relief fund for police and fire personnel, and general obligation bonds. The remaining 65.85 mills goes to Columbus Municipal School District for general expenses and bonds.
This is a 1.08-mill increase over the current rate of 106, which roughly equates to an extra $10 a year in ad valorem taxes for the owner of a $100,000 property.
Councilmen adopted the millage but not the proposed budget. That will be done Sept. 11 during another special meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. at City Hall. The budget projects a $300,542 deficit.
About 15 people who were not city employees were present for the hearing. Two citizens, Berry Hinds and Sharelle Sturdivant, provided input to the council on the budget.
Hinds noted that the city appropriates more than $1 million a year to local organizations, including about $125,000 a year to E-911 services. He recommended that the city negotiate with Lowndes County to have the county take over more of those expenses.
“Either you’re going to have to tell the citizens what it’s going to cost and be willing to go to them and say we’ve got to raise your millage to do this, or you’ve got to cut spending,” Hinds said. “You can’t just keep taking $300,000 from what’s in the bank year after year.”
Sturdivant noted that the council recently appointed an employee of J5 Broaddus, the city’s project managing firm, to serve as deputy director of the city’s public works department under director Casey Bush. The first six months of that arrangement will come at no cost to the city, she noted, but when that time runs up, she suggested rather than taking him as a city employee that the money it would take to pay his salary be used for existing employees.
“If in six months, you decide you want to hire an assistant to somebody that (doesn’t) really need one, why not give that money to the employees that you already have?” Sturdivant said.
In ad valorem revenues, the city will receive $5,051,750 for general operations (30.25 mills), $946,890 for police and fire disability (5.67 mills) and $886,770 for general obligation bonds (5.31 mills). This includes a 1.1-mill increase to pay for a 15-year, $5 million bond issue for city infrastructure improvements.
The school district will receive $10,246,346 (51.75 mills) for general operations, $226,939 (1.15 mills) to make up for a prior operational shortfall and $2,107,110 (10.64 mills) for general obligation bonds. An extra 2.31 mills are paying for construction of Stokes Beard Elementary School and renovation of Columbus High School. Those notes are set to expire in April 2019 and May 2018, respectively.
Ward 4 councilman Marty Turner was absent from the meeting.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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