Council Questions, Then Adopts, Budget

The Monticello City Council voted to approve the fiscal year 2019 (FY19) budget at its business meeting Monday night totaling $10,021,889. The council also voted to pass the rollback rate of 5.864 which is a half a mill decrease from the last fiscal year’s 6.327.

While the budget passed it took two separate votes for approval as there were only three voting members present, including Mayor Pro-tem Stone Workman, Councilwoman Cynthia Miller and Councilman David Wease. They were presented the budget and the FY18 budget amendment at the meeting and there were some questions from Councilwoman Cynthia Miller about the numbers.

Mrs. Miller questioned the difference in the FY18 original numbers from one document and those same numbers from another document. She stated, “the revenues and taxes for FY18 should be the same. These numbers are not consistent between the original and the revised. I’m clearly looking at the numbers and they don’t match.”

Mrs. Miller continued to Lathadrya Sands, City Clerk, and questioned the original numbers verses the audited numbers. She noted the line items in question to be with charges for services and the financial lines that “almost doubled” from one sheet to the next. “You can’t be a little over,”

Councilwoman Miller said, “if we’re audited we’ll be in trouble. The original should all reflect FY18’s numbers.”

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Mayor Standifer stated that the decrease was due to the council “doing a great job with the financial welfare of the city and living within our means.” He also commented that the budget was balanced for the year. He stated that the FY19 budget had to be passed that night and urged additional questions for clarification.

Mayor Pro-tem Workman stated that the FY19 budget could be amended after it passed. He said that the council could come back and amend/change what was needed after the numbers were straightened out – even as early as their next meeting.

Mrs. Miller also questioned, “Why are we at 80 percent expenditures for financial administration with 33 percent allocated out? The gaps in the numbers and the intervals don’t balance out.”

Mrs. Sands said that the transfers in needed to be shown on the revenue side of the budget. She also stated that the numbers come directly out of the software system that the city uses.

After much discussion and many questions a new motion was made “to approve the FY19 budget with the amendments made to numbers in the year of that budget (FY18). The motion passed 3-0.

Mayor Standifer commented after the vote, “we always love to question items and to make them right before approving. The amendments discussed will come before council at the next meeting.”

In other action the council voted to approve the Freeport Tax Exemption by approving a resolution on that subject. Mrs. Sands stated that the last version to be approved was in 1997 and the new resolution would be presented to Lynn Bentley in the Tax Appraisers office. There were no changes to this exemption, it was just a renewal of what was already in existence.

The council also voted to approve an amendment for the Historic Preservation Commission presented to the council on behalf of David Thompson with the commission. The amendment was to allow modern materials to be permitted on buildings as long as those materials kept the historic prestige and the view of the property the same.

During the City Manager’s items Mrs. Sands asked for approval for the work to begin on the park to park grant that has been outstanding through three previous mayors and several more councils. She stated that the work on the grant was to begin July 15, 2018 and work would take place between Westview Park and Funderburg Park. There will be improvements to Westview Park and maintenance and upkeep on the sidewalks between the two.

The total cost for the project is $563,773. The money used to finance the project will come from a GDOT grant and SPLOST. The work will be done by Georgia Development Partners, the contractor that won the bid for the job back in 2017.

The council voted to add both an upper loop addition and a lower loop trail. They also are going to thicken the concrete for the sidewalks to six inches. For the payment for the park the Georgia Depart ment of Transportation grant was for approximately $329,000. The remainder of the money due is $232,000 due from the county. There will be $162 that will come out of SPLOST 17 and $71,632 will come from the most recently passed SPLOST.

The council voted to approve the American Legion having vendors on their lot on Saturdays from 9 a.m. – noon. The approval was based on a year time frame and discussed as approved based on the selling occurring on their lot and as a fund raiser. They approved the selling of crafts and small personal objects with proceeds going toward the various programs and donations the Legion provides throughout the year.