The City of Thomasville’s fiscal budget for 2018 will be presented to City Council on Monday, December 11, 2017. The proposed budget is $122,729,789 and, for the sixth straight year, includes no funding from property taxes.
In lieu of property taxes, margins above the cost of providing services are transferred from the City’s utility funds to general government. For FY 2018, the amount of the transfers will be approximately $10,551,500, an increase of approximately 3% from 2017.
“Thomasville is one of only three cities in the State of Georgia that does not depend upon property taxes in order to fund our operations,” said City Manager/Utilities Superintendent Steve Sykes. “Instead, we are able to continue providing excellent services to our customers without an additional tax burden. We can do this through efficient operation and management of our competitively-priced utility services.”
The proposed budget includes many City Council initiatives that stem from recent public engagement activities. “During 2017, we increased our efforts to engage in two-way dialog with our community,” said Sykes. “We’ve heard what issues were important for our community, and I think residents will see that in the Council’s 2018 priorities.”
A new position included in the proposed budget will offer housing assistance to residents. “Affordable housing was a key point during our recent Blueprint: Thomasville 2028 comprehensive planning workshops,” said Sykes. “City Councilmembers, City leadership and concerned citizens all agreed that helping to provide affordable housing options to our residents is imperative. The proposed 2018 budget will include a Housing Administrator position as well as other services relevant to providing affordable housing to our community.”
Street paving and sidewalks will also be a focus of the 2018 budget. Sykes said that there are several initiatives to improve infrastructure in Thomasville neighborhoods. “We have several street paving projects planned, including College Street, Bibb Street, Patton Street, Wright Street, and a portion of E. Clay Street,” he said.
Sidewalks are slated as well and will be funded by the 2012 SPLOST. “We are proposing sidewalks to be added to Magnolia Street from South College to Jones Street, Wright Street from Fern to Jones, and South Pinetree Boulevard from Providence Plaza to Magnolia,” said Sykes. “In addition, sidewalks will be added as part of the Community Trail along South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, connecting Varnedoe and Balfour Parks as well as along Lester Street from Bartow to Jones Street and Jones Street from Lester Street to Magnolia.”
The proposed budget also includes culverts and storm water infrastructure at Tuxedo Drive, funding for additional trees and a contract for cemetery maintenance.
“This past summer, our ability to maintain our cemeteries was compromised and we know that we did not meet our community’s expectations,” said Sykes. “By converting from in-house to a contracted maintenance schedule, we anticipate an improvement in the maintenance and upkeep of these important spaces.”
Another area that is included in the proposed 2018 budget is funding to address dilapidated housing. “This has been a priority for our Council for several years,” said Sykes. “During 2017, we cleared 56 homes from the dilapidated housing list; 36 were repaired and occupied and 20 were demolished. Addressing dilapidated homes is important, as many of these structures harbor vermin, pests and illegal activity.”
Sykes stated that City of Thomasville employees work very diligently to increase efficiency and reduce costs, which helps the City of Thomasville to offer a variety of services at competitive rates to customers. “We pride ourselves on our competitive rate structure, which places the City of Thomasville rates among some of the lowest utility rates in the state of Georgia,” he said. “However, due to increased costs in distribution, some adjustments in water, wastewater, natural gas and Solid Waste rates are proposed for this year.”
For residential customers with average usage, the average bill will increase about 1 percent or slightly more than $3 per month. Water and wastewater costs proposed for the average residential customer will be adjusted by approximately $1.03 and $1.51 each month, respectively. The Solid Waste rates are also proposed to be adjusted, reflecting an increase of $.40 per month for residential refuse service. The Natural Gas base rate will be adjusted from $7.25 to $10.00 per month, but will be offset by a lower variable cost to customers. “This means that customers should see lower bills during seasons when an increase in natural gas usage is higher than average,” said Sykes.
If approved, the new rates will be effective February 1. No rate adjustments are proposed for electricity.
Sykes said that the Council is pleased to include so many initiatives in the 2018 budget that reflect the desires of the community. “We are fortunate to have so many engaged citizens in Thomasville that want to join in open dialog with their elected officials,” he said. “We hope this involvement continues into 2018.”