New Macon budget will increase funding for public safety, county workers, others

Macon-Bibb County employees and public safety personnel may benefit from the county’s new budget, if it’s approved.

Mayor Lester Miller proposed a new county budget Tuesday, which is telling of financial changes locals can expect from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, when the budget takes effect.

The budget hasn’t been voted on yet. The Macon-Bibb County Commission will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on June 3, in the Commission Chamber at City Hall, 700 Poplar St. Commissioners will vote on the budget at 6 p.m. on June 17.

A total budget of $219.8 million would go toward local public safety, salaries and benefits for county employees, information technology, recreation, and beautification. It’s about $7.4 million more than the current 2024-2025 budget.

National issues such as federal budget cuts and international tariffs heavily impacted how the proposed budget was decided, according to Miller.

“By far, in my fifth year as Mayor, this has been the most difficult budget that I’ve had to recommend…,” he said at a Macon-Bibb County Commission meeting Tuesday evening. “We are going to hold the line right now because of market uncertainty and things we have going on in the national arena that we can’t really control.”

Public safety

Macon’s total public safety budget increased to over $122 million which is almost $1.5 million more than its current budget.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is expected to receive the largest increase out of all local public safety entities.

The sheriff’s office would receive $58.1 million, which is about $1.3 million more than its current budget, and about 48% of the overall public safety budget. The other roughly 52% would go toward the fire department, code enforcement, the emergency management agency, the local court system and the coroner’s office.

“Public safety is not just the sheriff’s department,” Miller said. “When people talk about the jail, there’s been conversations about the jail, well there’s a lot that happens between the time that you may get arrested, to the time you go to the jail, and the time that you may go somewhere else.”

Miller, Sheriff David Davis and local advocates have discussed a possible new or expanded jail after several incidents of deaths and allegedly inhumane conditions at the current Bibb County Law Enforcement Center, at 668 Oglethorpe Street.

The only public safety entity whose budget is expected to decrease is the district attorney’s office. It would receive just under $5 million, which is $110,058 less than its current budget.

Code enforcement would receive about $2 million, which is $79,333 more than its current budget. The Bibb County Emergency Management Agency would receive $735,867, which is $20,822 more than its current budget. The Bibb County Fire Department would receive about $34 million, or $17,707 more than its current budget.

County employees

Funding for salaries and benefits is also expected to increase for Bibb County employees, according to Miller’s proposed budget.

But it’s a much smaller increase than the previous fiscal year.

The new budget for county workers’ salaries and benefits would total about $123.7 million. This is only a $683,032 increase from its current budget, compared to an increase of more than $5 million from fiscal year 2024 to 2025.

“There are not raises in the budget right now, there’s just more being paid in salaries,” Chris Floore, chief communications officer of the county, said.

Property tax, millage rate

The county’s millage rate, which determines the cost of property tax, is expected to remain the same.

A millage rate is the amount of property tax owed per $1,000 of a property’s value. Macon’s current rate is nine mills, which means a property owner must pay $9 in taxes for every $1,000 of its taxable value.

Property tax makes up about 25% of revenue for the county’s budget, according to Miller’s proposed budget. Sales tax and other local taxes also fund the budget.

The commission will not alter the millage rate until early August, according to Floore. A tax assessor must first finalize an annual inventory of all properties subject to taxation, which usually happens in June or July, Floore said.

Information technology

The county plans to fund advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and a new IT director.

The Bibb County Department of Information Technology is expected to receive more than $8.6 million in the upcoming fiscal year, Miller said.

This would benefit local “informational technology as we know in the AI world,” he said.

Miller hopes the increased budget would also prevent hackers and cyber attacks from invading the county’s digital services, like a “security breach” that shut down servers for days in May 2024.

“We’ve been through a situation with our IT … We also know there’s folks that want to do us harm out there on the internet,” Miller said. “We have to stay ahead of the curve.”

The budget would also contribute to a nationwide search for a new IT director, who would replace County Manager Keith Moffett, who was serving as the interim director, according to Floore. The search was funded by the Knight Foundation, Miller said.

Recreation, beautification

Recreation and beautification initiatives are expected to have the smallest budgets out of all county entities.

However, both sectors would receive more funding than the previous fiscal year.

The recreation budget would total more than $7.7 million, which is $638,365 more than its current budget.

“We have to maintain these facilities. We have to make sure we have staffing (and) programs there,” Miller said.

The beautification budget would total more than $4.6 million, which is $57,667 more than its current budget. He hopes most of this will go toward beautification projects, rather than having to pick up litter.

“I just want people to be able to not litter our community and pick up behind themselves so we can use these things for more truly beautification things that we’ve been doing,” Miller said.

This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM.