The City of Thomasville will hold a public hearing on Monday, December 3, 2018, at 6:00 p.m. to receive public comments on the City’s proposed budget for 2019. The budget is scheduled to be presented to City Council on Monday, December 10th. The proposed budget is $122,210,475 and, for the seventh 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 2019, the amount of the transfers will be approximately $10,715,000, an increase of just over one and a half percent from 2018.
“We are very proud that 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 Interim City Manager Kha McDonald. “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 significant funding for infrastructure improvement to utility services, including water and wastewater. “It is important that we allocate funding to improve our infrastructure annually so that our system is not compromised,” said Assistant Utilities Superintendent Chris White. “By maintaining our system and replacing older pipes installed upwards of 50 years ago, we ensure that our system will be capable of serving our community for many years to come.”
Improvements to underground infrastructure are timed to coincide with the City’s resurfacing initiative. “For 2019, we will be paving 8.1 miles of streets, including South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and several in the Fletcherville community,” said White. Community Development Block Grant and SPLOST funding will be allocated for many improvements in both of these areas.”
White said that in addition to street resurfacing, storm water infrastructure upgrades that will improve drainage in these areas are also included in the 2019 budget. “We will also be adding sidewalks to many of the streets in these areas,” he said.
The 2019 budget will also include four additional school resource officers. “School resource officers, or SROs, are members of the Thomasville Police Department who teach, counsel and protect our schools and our students,” said McDonald. “The officers build relationships with students and administrators and become a resource for solving problems and cultivating a safe, supportive environment for our young people. They are also here to serve the community in a broader sense as a regular officer during school breaks.”
Recreational improvements will be a priority in the 2019 proposed budget as well. “The City of Thomasville began an initiative to improve our public green spaces based on public input several years ago, with MacIntyre Park, Weston Park and Paradise Park all being the focus of recent community planning charrettes,” said McDonald. “For 2019, we propose making improvements to restroom facilities at both Balfour Park and Northside Park and improving some of the recreational amenities in other public parks as well.”
Funds will also be allocated for a housing grant program that will assist qualifying homeowners with making costly repairs to their property. “Replacing a roof or making much-needed energy efficiency improvements to a home can be a challenge for homeowners,” said McDonald. “We have budged matching funds that will allow the City to qualify for grant programs that will assist qualifying homeowners with these types of repairs.”
White stated that City of Thomasville employees work 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 have a very competitive rate structure and offer some of the lowest utility rates in the state of Georgia,” he said. “However, due to increased costs in distribution, some adjustments in utility services are proposed for this year.”
For city residential customers with typical usage, the average total utility bill will increase about 1 percent or around $3.50 per month. Water and wastewater costs proposed for the typical residential customer will be adjusted by approximately $0.96 and $1.54 each month, respectively. The Solid Waste rates are also proposed to be adjusted, reflecting an increase of around $1.00 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 their natural gas usage is higher,” said White.
If approved, the new rates will be effective February 1. No rate adjustments are proposed for electricity.
White said that while increasing rates is never desirable, it is necessary for utility rates to accurately reflect the cost to deliver the service. “Even with these small adjustments to our utility services, we are still well below the state average,” he said.
The proposed budget will be considered by the Thomasville City Council at its regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, December 10, 2018, in Council Chambers.