Mayor Tye Howard, who took office in January, said he was concerned that the miscalculation in projected electric revenue will lead to more adjustments in the budget as the year progresses.
"We're going to have to be pretty austere with what we do. I don't think we'll have to lay off people, but we may have to curtail some projects," Howard said.
But veteran council members Rosemary Walker and Mike Dodd said they didn't think the city's financial situation was quite so desperate. "We're going to be all right," Walker said. "It is normal to have to adjust the budget and move money from one line item to another the way we did tonight."
Dodd said the council may have overestimated the amount of electric revenue the city would generate this year in adopting the budget, which was a bit more than $16 million.
"The new Wal-Mart and DOC's move are a bit slower than we expected, but they are coming and will be big customers for us buying electricity, water and sewer service," he said. "We just have to tighten our belts some for the time being and be careful with our spending. But the city's not going broke."
Howard said he was most concerned that the city has withdrawn nearly $1.25 million from its Municipal Electric Association of Georgia flex account and cashed in more than $300,000 in certificates of deposit in the last year.
"We've drawn the flex account down from more than $2.25 million to between $1.2 million and $1.3 million since the beginning of 2007," Howard said. "It is legal to use that money, but it would be better to leave it there for when we want to buy into the new Plant Vogel later."
Dodd said he also wishes the city didn't need to use the flex money, but that it was there for the city to use if needed, and now it needs it.
"Times are tight and we have had some big expenses in the last couple of years paying for mandated water and sewer improvements," Dodd said. "But hopefully when we get past this tough spell we can start putting money back in the account."
Dodd said the city must spend $1.3 million to $1.4 million for the infrastructure improvements to serve the DOC's needs at the Tift campus. But he said that will be repaid many times over by the direct payments for services the DOC will pay the city in coming years and the money DOC employees and visitors will spend in the area.
In other action Tuesday night, the council:
• Named Art Phillips police chief. He had been serving as interim chief since John Clifton left for another job a couple of months ago.
• Voted against a proposed change in the city code to allow caterers to serve alcoholic beverages at special events in downtown buildings closer than 300 feet to churches or schools.
REAPPOINTED MARTIN PRESLEY TO THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION AND ASKED COUNCIL MEMBERS TO BRING NAMES OF NOMINEES TO FILL TWO MORE OPEN POSITIONS AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING.
To contact writer Chuck Thompson, call 744-4489.
