TIFTON — City manager Pete Pyrzenski presented the proposed budget for the upcoming year to the Tifton City Council at the May 20 special called meeting.

Pyrzenski said that he thought the city is in “a good place” financially with a balanced $43,032,546 budget.

“The budget is very, very sound,” he said. “There’s no increase in fees. There’s no mention of a tax increase whatsoever. I think we’re more stable than ever before. It’s going to be a real positive year going forward.”

Pyrzenski said that the retirement and pension fund conversion from 2018 positively affected nearly every department by less money going from the budget into the fund.

He informed the council that there were some increased costs in the budget for the upcoming year.

“We had hits mid-year that were unexpected, unpredictable,” he said.

The city had to cover $190,922 shortfall from the general fund due to the city receiving less franchise fees from Georgia Power.

He said that the city is working with Georgia Power to correct some discrepancies in properties being counted by Georgia Power as being in the county that are actually in the city.

“That’s a big number for us to look at and try to recover,” he said.

Pyrzenski said that Hurricane Michael negatively impacted several departments, including the police and fire departments, public works and the landfill, leading to unbudgeted costs.

The insurance premium tax decreased by $61,000, which was less than the city had budgeted.

Pyrzenski said that he is putting in a 1 percent pay increase for all city employees for the city council to consider.

“This is a budget you can be proud of,” he said. “We are stable, on solid ground. From a financial perspective our departments are able to provide a real strong service to the community.”

“The city is in good financial shape and I’m proud of that,” said Tifton Mayor Julie Smith. “This council and the team have worked very diligently to do more with less and work smarter and all that and it’s reflected in this (budget). To have a balanced budget and be able to accomplish some of the goals we set as a council over the course of last year is a testament to the hard work of our city employees.”

Solid Waste

Pyrzenski said that the landfill is going to be a big project in the upcoming fiscal year.

“We have to have solid discussions,” he said. “The landfill is costing a lot of money. Just in this budget in this particular year engineering fees have increased $40,000. We need that to do what we need to do. Maintenance and repairs increased $37,000, supplies increased $100,000. This is rock and stone, things Ricky (Hobby) needs to keep this landfill where it needs to be, and then $160,000 into the roads, working the lift where the garbage goes.”

He informed the council that the landfill needs $1.2 million in capital to get the landfill where it needs to be and in compliance.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he said. He said that he was hoping to look for a partner who can help the city change how it handles garbage disposal and control costs.

“If we don’t, we’re going to see fees that we don’t need to incorporate in south Georgia,” he said.

Pyrzenski said that the city and county need to have solid discussions about tipping fees and alleviating costs.

Police Department

Pyrzenski said that they are looking at creating more ranks in the department for officers who have served for three, seven and 10 years as a retention tool.

“This is an internal item Chief (Buddy Dowdy) and I have been looking at,” he said. “Creating this layer to look at those serving in different capacities, whether it’s a leadership role or serving as a trainer.”

Pyrzenski said that the department’s training budget increased by $16,000 for more realistic training, including hands-on simulation training for officers.

“We need to do a little more when it comes to hands-on and real world stuff,” he said.

Cemetery

Pyrzenski said that he wants to make the cemetery one of his goals for 2020. He said that the cemetery is not too far off from running out of room and that the city needs to look at what they can do about that.

He said that they have budgeted for a survey of the cemetery to see who is buried where and tell where there are open, unused plots.

“This is going to be a pretty massive undertaking for this particular year,” he said. “Surveying the land is up for discussion.”

Leroy Rogers Senior Center

Pyrzenski said that the fees for renting the center need to be looked at by the council.

“We are too low and aren’t covering our costs,” he said. “We’re not talking about big money but we have to at least cover our costs.”

Pyrzenski said that expanding the programs and services at the center over the past year have benefitted the center.

“I think transportation enhanced a lot this year for the seniors,” he said. “Expanding the parking lot was a great thing. Fran (Kinchen) and Tasha (Patrick) expanded the programs, the nutritional programs, what we’re able to do in the center. It was very glaring that the city of Tifton fully supports the seniors.”

Council member Jack Folk said that the center serves all of Tift County as well as people from surrounding counties but there is no contribution from Tift County.

Pyrzenski said that when he polled the attendees during the senior luncheon at the center on May 8, there were some out-of-county attendees, but approximately 80 percent of the attendees said they were county residents, compared to approximately 20 percent who said they were city residents.

“It was interesting to see that,” he said.

Main Street

Pyrzenski reminded the city council that the county stopped funding the Main Street Program last year, so the $157,406 budget is fully funded by the city.

“The city is funding Main Street, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

Mayor Julie Smith said it had recently been brought to her attention that there is come confusion about the city funding or supporting Main Street.

Tifton-Tift County Public Library

The library requested a $20,000 increase to their budget.

Pyrzenski said that the library also requested a $30,000 increase from the county.

Folk said that the library is a county-wide operation that is paid for out of the county general fund, which means that residents of the city, who pay county taxes as well, effectively get double charged for the library.

He said that at some point the county has to step up and “not rely on the City of Tifton residents to continue funding double.”

“City of Tifton residents are supporting the library,” he said. “We’re supporting more than those who live outside the city limits.”

Council member Frank Sayles agreed.

“That’s not saying we may not consider upping our contribution from the city,” Sayles said. “I just want y’all to know that we also are contributing as tax payers through the county.”

Tift Theatre

Pyrzenski said that the partnership with Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is “working great.”

He said that the theatre is strong and stable and that while there is a deficit, overall the theatre is a benefit to the community.

Folk said that he doesn’t look at it as the theatre losing money.

“It’s the cost of providing something to the city,” he said. “We’re not losing money, we‘re spending money to do some things to enhance the City of Tifton.”

Water and Wastewater

Pyrzenski said that he wanted to do an energy audit for the city and look into alternative energy sources.

“Wastewater plants are great applications for that,” he said. “If we could reduce our energy cost by 15 percent you’re talking about some pretty good money, so that’s one thing I wanted to do.”

ESG

Pyrzenski said that ESG requested a base fee increase of $19,218 for the upcoming year.

“This was a request from ESG,” he said, adding that it was an anticipated increase.