Macon officials trim more than $100,000 from budget for outside agencies

Using cuts made by Bibb County officials as their lead, Macon officials on Tuesday cut more than $100,000 from outside agencies the city helps fund.

Council members also put about $360,000 into unallocated reserves, meaning the agencies originally intended to receive that money will have to come back to City Council to justify their expenses before they will be eligible to get it.

This spring, Mayor Robert Reichert presented the council with a balanced fiscal 2011 budget proposal that wouldn’t raise taxes because of the additional revenue the city is expected to receive after the county’s revaluation process increased home values. The mayor’s proposal was roughly $82 million, including the general and enterprise funds.

On Tuesday, the hardest-hit outside agency was Historic Hills and Heights, which uses the College Hill Alliance staff to reduce overhead costs. The organization’s $75,000 budget request was eliminated in Tuesday’s meeting.

Hills and Heights works to revitalize the Beall’s Hill neighborhood adjacent to Mercer University, which partners with the city and the Macon Housing Authority for the effort. The group replaces a previous organization whose internal troubles ultimately led to its demise midway through the revitalization process.

Councilman Mike Cranford, chairman of the council’s Appropriations Committee, said he’s concerned that the Beall’s Hill project has no foreseeable end and could mean the city spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on one part of town while ignoring other blighted areas.

However, the other Hills and Heights partners will be invited to justify the expense to determine whether the $75,000 makes it back into the budget before it’s adopted later this month.

Cranford also told the committee he met with Bibb County Commission Chairman Sam Hart about the county’s budget process. He passed out a list of the levels at which commissioners are funding various agencies.

Working from that list, the committee generally cut funding by 10 percent — equal to the cuts made by the county — to many of the agencies the two governments fund together.

A few agencies, such as the Middle Georgia Regional Commission and the Transit Authority, were spared, but most others would get less money starting July 1 when fiscal 2011 begins.

The city-county planning and zoning commission lost $36,069 when the committee recommended $324,625 for fiscal 2011.

That cut came, in part, because committee members said the agency could still save money by requiring employee contributions for health insurance and by moving its finance and human resources functions to either the city or county.

The committee also cut $33,000 to the elections board, $8,634 from the industrial authority, and $7,110 to the Keep Macon-Bibb County Beautiful Commission, which is staffed by members of the Cherry Blossom Festival office.

Cranford and Councilman Tom Ellington said they hope the city and county can hold joint budget sessions next year to review the outside agencies they fund together. That move could save both governments time and frustration and, they think, it could save money.

Councilman Virgil Watkins noted the difficulty in trying to remain financially responsible to the taxpayers without eliminating services that improve the quality of life in the city.

“We have to use a razor blade, not a meat cleaver,” Watkins said.

Councilman James Timley, who isn’t a member of the Appropriations Committee, wasn’t convinced the committee is doing all it can to protect taxpayers.

“We need to use an axe,” he said.

As it is poised to soon receive a portion of the hotel-motel tax, the Douglass Theatre was hit with a 50 percent reduction to $40,000 for fiscal 2011. The reduction may prevent “double funding,” Cranford said.

The committee put $90,000 in unallocated reserves from the line item for the lobbyist the city hired last year to help get more federal money for the city.

The move leaves $30,000 in the budget to complete the current contract, which expires in September. In the meantime, the committee has requested a list of the money the lobbyist has helped secure for the city.

Committee members also split the Economic and Community Development’s land acquisition budget in half, putting $100,000 of the request into unallocated reserves. Council members have expressed frustration over the number of houses the city owns, which it can’t seem to get rid of later.

Cranford asked the committee to put $500,000 into working capital reserves from the $667,000 originally set aside for the HOPE VI grant the housing authority was not awarded. The remaining $167,000 goes into unallocated funds.

During this part of the budget process, the committee makes its recommendation to present to the full council. The council is set to vote on the budget June 22.

To contact writer Chris Horne, call 744-4494.