With only three commissioners—Carol Myers, Patrick Davenport and Melissa Link—in attendance at a May 22 work session, they were unable to reach an agreement on Athens-Clarke County’s fiscal 2026 budget, and pushed final decisions off until June 5.
The county tax digest grew by $1.2 million more than was anticipated when Mayor Kelly Girtz released his budget proposal in late April, giving the commission a bit of wiggle room. In addition, Myers proposed raising the property tax rate by 0.1 mills ($10 for the average homeowner), which would bring in an additional $760,000, and taking $650,000 from reserves.
Myers’ proposal would add $1 million to the county’s affordable housing trust fund, created last year with a $5 million investment. A 2023 study recommended adding $5 million to the fund each year, but Girtz’s proposed budget did not include a contribution. In addition, Myers wants to boost funding for library employees’ health care, raise pay for sheriff’s deputies, provide money for the district attorney’s office to hire more investigators, and fund the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, which has lost 18% of its federal funding, among other requests from various departments.
Davenport said he would prefer to raise the millage rate than spend from the county’s fund balance, or rainy day fund. He also proposed cutting the $1.1 million neighborhood leaders program, which pays individuals to guide their neighbors in applying for social services.
About half a dozen people spoke in favor of Myers’ budget proposal at a June 3 public hearing. Two others wanted the commission to fully staff the police department’s new real-time operations center, and another chided the mayor and commission for wasteful spending.
Commissioner Mike Hamby presented an alternative budget proposal at a June 5 meeting that includes about $4 million in new spending over Girtz’s original proposal and is similar to Myers’ budget, with the addition of $750,000 to expand leaf-and-limb pickup to every four weeks.
But Hamby’s ideas for funding those expenditures are quite different: He wants to cut the property tax by 0.2 mills (about $20 for the average household, totaling $1.5 million); raise on-street parking rates by 50 cents ($300,000); remove a $150,000 line item for a third assistant city manager position that was never filled; and take almost $7 million in unallocated interest from SPLOST and TSPLOST projects for road paving, traffic signal upgrades, courthouse security and park maintenance. The latter lead to concerns that there would not be enough money to complete those projects if they go over budget.
The commission is scheduled to vote on the approximately $200 million budget Tuesday, June 10.
This article was updated to correct the amount ACC spends on the neighborhood leaders program and add details about Hamby’s budget proposal.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
