Rapidly rising property values in recent years have allowed the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission to pursue new initiatives while also cutting the millage rate. But the gravy train is about to come to an end.
During a work session Mar. 25, Brad Griffin—the former planning director brought out of retirement to run the ACC government’s day-to-day operations after Niki Jones left in December—presented the manager’s so-called “big rocks” budget, with a somewhat pessimistic outlook. Griffin projected increased revenue of $9 million, or about 4.5%, but his $201 million proposed operating budget includes little but the bare necessities.
Department heads requested a total of $40 million in new spending, and “honestly, most of the things the departments are asking for are needs,” such as funding to hire new employees, overtime or accounting for inflation, Griffin said. But he approved just 9% of those requests.
The capital budget, for equipment and maintenance rather than mainly salaries, is also tight. Griffin is recommending funding 10 capital projects worth $7 million out of 110 requests totaling $26 million. “The vast majority, line by line, was not recommended for funding quite simply because there was not the funding to pay for it,” he told commissioners.
The anticipated $9 million increase in revenue was quickly eaten up by what Griffin views as essentials, such as pay raises for employees as the county continues to struggle to keep positions filled, fire equipment, traffic signal replacement, new computers, higher power costs for streetlights, increased costs for insurance and replacing the Biden administration’s expiring American Rescue Plan Act funds. To even fund those costs, Griffin is proposing dipping into the county’s reserves for $3 million.
In the past few years, the commission has drawn down reserve funds largely to address a previous backlog of infrastructure projects dating back to budget cuts during the 2008–2011 Great Recession. The county had 32% of its total budget in reserve in fiscal 2023, but taking out $3 million for fiscal 2026 would bring that figure down to 19%. Accounting guidelines generally call for local and state governments to have two months of funding in reserve, or about 17%, but “it really should be much higher than that, in my opinion,” Griffin said.
Some commissioners had their own ideas for raising revenue that were quickly knocked down. Commissioner Melissa Link proposed creating a special district to charge the tax-exempt University of Georgia for fire protection—an idea she has floated several times, but has never gotten much traction.
Commissioner Dexter Fisher wanted to charge fees on student housing developments. Legally, “I’m not sure you could get into imposing fees on student multifamily, because then you’re basing it on who lives there,” Griffin said. As far as impact fees for apartments in general, those “have to have a very specific expenditure plan associated with them,” like a park in a fast-growing neighborhood, Mayor Kelly Girtz said, and can’t just go into the general fund for any purpose.
Commissioner Stephanie Johnson suggested selling off county-owned properties to raise revenue. The commission’s Government Operations Committee recently looked at a list of such properties, Link said, and developers would not be interested in many. “It turns out there are very few buildable properties out there that are owned by Athens-Clarke County,” Link said.
Girtz is expected to submit his version of the budget to the commission in late April. Commissioners will then spend May tweaking it before approving a final version in early June. The new fiscal year starts July 1.
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