When the city council approves its final budget Monday afternoon for next fiscal year, it is unlikely to include many of the requested increases in outside appropriations.
It may not include any money for the Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce.
“Right now, we’re trying to maintain where we were last year with no increases if we can help it,” said Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens, who represents Ward 2 on the council. “But that could change at the (meeting).”
The council fielded nearly $1.1 million in funding requests from outside agencies for Fiscal Year 2025, about $317,500 more than it granted this fiscal year, according to documents the city provided The Dispatch. Of that amount, the council already applied $64,000 — combined one-time appropriations to the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation and Columbus Air Force Base — to the FY 2024 budget.
Of the remaining funding requests, the council is poised to approve no more than $831,000. That leaves out a little more than $106,000 in requested increases — from agencies like the local humane society, library, Columbus Arts Council, Boys and Girls Club, Safe Haven, Salvation Army and the Golden Triangle Area Agency on Aging — most, or all, of which won’t be funded.
The city plans to budget an additional $53,000 for E-911 services next year, a far cry from the $164,000 increase the agency sought. Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett said the city’s budget number is much more in line with its expected actual cost share for those services.
A $25,000 appropriation for the chamber of commerce also is still in the budget, Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham told The Dispatch on Thursday, but he noted, “it could come out as fast as it went in.”
The chamber, formerly a subordinate agency of the Golden Triangle Development LINK, ostensibly received some funding through the city’s $100,000 annual appropriation to the parent organization. But the chamber will officially become autonomous Oct. 1, when the new fiscal year begins, and has already relocated from the LINK office to shared office space with the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.
While the LINK requested its usual $100,000 from the city, the chamber asked for $25,000 each from the city and county. Trip Hariston, president of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, said the county plans to honor its part. The council doesn’t seem as sure.
“I’m going to support the LINK for its $100,000,” Mickens said. “With the chamber, that’s going to be up for discussion. I don’t know where it will fall. … We’re going to try to work with them.”
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said he wants to “see what benefit” the chamber has to the city.
“It poses a problem when you (raise taxes), then give the money away,” Jones said, referring to the city setting a property tax rate that would result in citizen tax bills rising, which he opposed.
Carrie Martin, who took over as chamber director in June, said most of the organization’s funding comes from membership dues, and money from the city and county would help tremendously. For one, the chamber is in “unknown territory” as it tries to set its budget, as the now standalone organization is taking on expenses it never did while under the LINK.
“Rent, for example, ain’t cheap,” she told The Dispatch.
Martin also is acting as director and special events coordinator, which used to be two jobs, and she’s hoping to hire a second person next year.
“The intention was to get me some help,” she said. “If it doesn’t happen, then I guess it doesn’t happen.”
Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco told The Dispatch she supports honoring the chamber’s request. However, she is for rejecting the other increases.
Mayor Keith Gaskin, in a text to The Dispatch, agreed with DiCicco.
“We’re still studying the budget numbers, but I agree that most appropriations will stay level from last year,” Gaskin wrote. “However, I think it’s very important that the city and county find a way to fund the chamber’s request now that (it is) a standalone organization from the LINK. They are a vital part of the success of our community.”
Even with the chamber request, Brigham said the projected budget surplus stands at $378,000. He said he’s comfortable as long as the surplus is at least $300,000.
“If (the council) wants to add a little something or adjust something, there’s still room for it,” he said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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