MACON, Ga. — Mayor Lester Miller wrapped up his first budget proposal to the Macon-Bibb Commission Tuesday afternoon. He pitched an over $174 million budget for the county for fiscal year 2022--slightly higher than the 2021 amended budget.
Let's start off with what everyone at home wants to know. Will your taxes increase, decrease or stay the same? Good news, Mayor Lester Miller says this year it will stay the same if commission approves his proposed budget.
Now aside from that, the proposed budget outlines the mayor's top priorities--from public safety to cleaning up blight.
As usual, public safety will take up the biggest part of the over $174 million budget with over $80 million.
"We're going to fully compensate our employees by funding the entire year on the pay scale and continuing to do that in our budget," Miller said.
Another priority is bringing business and good jobs to town. Miller wants to give an additional million dollars to the Industrial Authority, the Urban Development Authority, and Workforce Development.
He's also proposing an additional $500,000 for Code Enforcement which cracks down on blight.
Half of that would help to hire five new code enforcement officers.
The other half would go toward contracted services to help clean up areas.
"This will allow the code enforcement office to use part of his budget to remove those cars, if there's a dangerous structure there, he can use that money to remove that structure or repair that structure. We can put a lien on that property," Miller said.
While there's been a major effort to clean up the county since January, the mayor says the county is doing their part with the budget.
He proposed allocating an extra $20,000 to Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful and an additional $1 million towards beautification projects.
"To be able to cut the grass like we're supposed to, pick up the trash like we're supposed to on the sides of the road, but also improve our gateways coming into our community on the exits when you get off of," Miller said.
Miller is also making some cuts. He recommends eliminating all money for Atrium Health Navicent and museums from the general fund. That means that funding for those places drops to zero.
"Not like we don't care about them, not like we don't value them. We're going to make sure they have the money they need to operate from another source, but our general fund is not built for that right now," Miller said.
Mayor Miller told the commission that the county also will have a new and required reoccurring $15 million expense. That's made up with the cost of the pay scale, debt payments, and increased pension payments.
Miller says the county will continue to find extra revenue streams and places to make cuts moving forward.
The mayor also pitched increasing funding for planning and zoning by over $200,000 with some stipulations. He asked the department to decrease rates and fees. Another priority he mentioned in his presentation is allocating $100,000 to improving pedestrian and public safety.