Augusta commissioners voted Monday to send out property tax bills Sept. 5 showing the state offering a regular rebate, despite those grant funds being frozen by Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Commissioners said they will also ask state lawmakers returning to the Capitol in January to restore the funds that the governor's action would keep from going to counties statewide.
If that action is unsuccessful or if the governor continues to hold on to the money, the city will have to recover about $3 million from Augusta taxpayers. The Richmond County School Board would be short $3.7 million.
According to City Administrator Fred Russell, this could be accomplished by making cuts to city services and departments, taking money out of savings reserves or by sending out another round of tax bills.
Also Monday, the city's administrative services committee approved awarding a $17.3 million contract to build the new downtown library to R.W. Allen LLC.
The committee also heard a request from Augusta Museum of History's Executive Director Nancy Glaser for $75,000. Ms. Glaser said the money was needed for marketing and other costs associated with the 41 percent increase in out-of-town visitors to the museum to see the James Brown exhibit. Mr. Russell said he could not think of a worse time for someone to come and ask for additional funding. Commissioner J.R. Hatney suggested the museum increase admission to $2 for children and $5 for adults, which would be a $1 increase for each. The committee received the request as information.
Transit Director Heyward Johnson's request for $335,000 for diesel fuel fared better with the public service committee, although he did not immediately receive all of it. The committee approved a $25,000 increase but wants Mr. Johnson to bring more information about ridership and a route study to the next meeting.
Commissioners discussed raising the base fare to $1.25 from $1, although that will not eliminate the expected $850,000 deficit in this year's transit operations.
Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
Dennis Stroud, the city's public services maintenance division director, reported Monday that burial plot records at Cedar Grove Cemetery were sketchy, especially those before the 1990s. Mayor Pro Tem Betty Beard said she recalled that college students had researched Cedar Grove Cemetery records in recent years. She, Mayor Deke Copenhaver and Commissioners Corey Johnson and Alvin Mason volunteered for a committee to pursue the matter further.
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