Sunday bus service will continue under the Athens-Clarke County budget Mayor Nancy Denson proposed last week, and she also included $10,000 to let high-school students who participate in the Great Promise Partnership mentoring and job-training program ride Athens Transit for free.
Denson funded Sunday buses in last year’s budget, but only on the understanding that the program would be re-evaluated after a year. Athens Transit Director Butch McDuffie has said ridership met expectations.
The $120.7 million budget is $4.9 million more than last year, mostly because the rebounding real estate market means property tax revenue is expected to rise 3.5 percent. Other sources of additional revenue include raising water and sewer rates by about $1–$2 a month on average; slight increases in business and alcohol license fees; and raising on-street parking rates downtown from 75 cents to $1 per hour while lowering deck rates from $1.50 to $1.
Much of the money is being eaten up by salaries. Denson wants to spend $1.8 million on 2 percent raises for the county’s 1,627 employees, and more than $600,000 is earmarked for public safety—staffing the new, larger jail that opened in December and to hire more prosecutors and other courthouse staff now that the Western Circuit has added a fourth Superior Court Judge. The budget also includes an extra $1 million for employee health care.
Other initiatives in the budget include:
• $75,000 for a public health assessment aimed at helping commissioners curb binge drinking downtown.
• $22,000 for the Mayor’s Youth Development Task Force, a group of county officials and social workers that is developing strategies to combat gangs, which former police chief Jack Lumpkin warned last year are on the rise again.
• $15,000 for a study on revitalizing the West Broad Street corridor.
Budget hearings (where public comment is accepted) are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. May 10 and 12 at the Dougherty Street government building and 7 p.m. May 17 at City Hall. The commission will adopt the budget June 7, and it takes effect July 1.
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