Months of unresolved records requests leave Dawson taxpayer questions unanswered

Editor’s note: Because The Dawson News and The Albany Herald submitted the Open Records requests discussed in this story, the newspapers are parties to the events described. This account is based on dated and verifiable correspondence, email records and written responses exchanged between the newspapers and the city of Dawson.

DAWSON — The city of Dawson will move ahead with its Fiscal Year 2027 budget before completing three overdue external audits, city officials told The Dawson News on July 31, more than three months after the newspaper began requesting the financial records underlying the city’s financial decisions.

In the same response, the city said additional requests for documentation have delayed accounting firm Mauldin & Jenkins’ audits. It also clarified that the Tax Anticipation Note approved last month is secured by anticipated ad valorem tax collections, not by a revised Fiscal Year 2026 budget.

The newspaper has not yet been able to review the analyses underlying either decision. Requests for the cash-flow projections, revenue forecasts and supporting financial records relied upon by the city manager, mayor and City Council were still pending as of Aug. 3.

The chronology of correspondence shows the newspapers’ first confirmed financial open records request was submitted April 22, with City Attorney Tommy Coleman copied. No response was documented that day.

Georgia’s Open Records Act requires an agency to produce responsive records, or respond in writing, within three business days of receiving a request. O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71.

After a week passed without contact, The Dawson News followed up April 29 with both the city and Coleman. Coleman said he would reach out to City Manager Roxie Powell and that one of them would call back. Powell acknowledged receipt the same day, confirming the request had been received as of April 28 and apologizing for the delay, explaining she had been out of the office.

The parties met the following week on May 4. Following the discussion between The Dawson News and Powell, a revised request was submitted May 5 and accepted for processing. As of Aug. 3, the newspaper had not received responsive records to that revised request.

As additional financial questions arose during public meetings, the newspaper submitted supplemental requests seeking the documents city officials referenced in those discussions, according to verified email metadata on the following dates: 

• June 26 — an update was requested on Downtown Development Authority and Dawson Theater records. Coleman responded and said no additional documents had been received, though they had been requested. No additional information has been provided since. 
• July 13 — following council discussion of the tax anticipation note, The Dawson News requested the financial records supporting the budget and recovery presentation.
• July 14 — the city transmitted notice of an emergency meeting to approve the temporary loan.
• July 27 — The Dawson News followed up on digital records and inspection.
• July 30 — The Dawson News requested the audit status and budget timeline, prompting the city’s July 31 response.
• Aug. 3 — The Dawson News again followed up on inspection rights, labor charges and the analyses supporting the tax anticipation note.

During the course of those requests, The Dawson News became aware of reports that they had declined to pay open records fees assessed by the city. The chronology of correspondence does not support that characterization.

On July 13, the city notified The Dawson News that one request could involve approximately 1,598 pages of responsive records and estimated production costs at $185.04.

The Dawson News did not refuse payment. The same day, the newspaper asked whether the requested records already existed electronically and whether they could be produced digitally rather than photocopied. No response to that question has been documented.

The Dawson News also asked the city to clarify inspection rights under the Open Records Act and to explain how the labor charges included in the estimate were calculated. Those questions remained pending as of Aug. 3. The distinction matters because of how the statute treats electronic records and costs.

Georgia law directs agencies to produce electronic copies of records the agency maintains electronically, and allows a requester to ask that records be produced in the format in which the agency keeps them. Municipal budgets, audits, spreadsheets and accounting reports are commonly created and maintained in that form. The law also guarantees a right to inspect public records in person — a step that can narrow the volume of material that ultimately has to be copied.

The statute caps copying at 10 cents per page for letter- or legal-size documents. Charges for search, retrieval and redaction are limited to the prorated hourly salary of the lowest-paid full-time employee with the skill and training to do the work, and no charge may be made for the first quarter-hour.

At the maximum copying charge allowed under Georgia law, reproducing 1,598 pages would account for $159.80 of the $185.04 estimate, leaving approximately $25.24 attributable to labor. The Dawson News has asked the city to explain how that labor charge was calculated because its estimate appears inconsistent with the hourly compensation reflected in the city’s publicly available payroll records.

The requested records concern financial decisions already made — or expected to be made — involving public funds, including borrowing, budget development, audits and other actions that directly affect taxpayers.

Among them are the city’s delayed external audits, which provide the independent review of municipal finances relied upon by bondholders, lenders, grant agencies and residents; the proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget, which will determine how public funds are allocated in the coming year; and the financial analyses supporting the Tax Anticipation Note approved by the City Council at a July emergency meeting.

The requests also seek the assumptions underlying budget presentations, cash-flow projections presented to elected officials, and records related to the Dawson Downtown Development Authority and the Dawson Theater loan default status.

Reviewing those records allows The Dawson News to verify statements made during public meetings, place government decisions in context, identify inconsistencies when they exist, and report on the city’s finances using the official records on which elected officials relied rather than second-hand descriptions or characterizations.

As of Aug. 3, the following remained unresolved:

• A revised completion date for the Mauldin & Jenkins audits, and a fuller explanation of the delay.
• The supporting analyses, cash-flow projections and revenue forecasts relied upon for the tax anticipation note.
• The proposed Fiscal 2027 budget, the public hearing schedule and the adoption timeline.
• Which responsive records exist in electronic format, and arrangements for in-person inspection.
• The labor rate used to calculate open records charges.
• The status of the Downtown Development Authority and Dawson Theater repayment obligation, and whether additional documents have been received.
• Additional records explaining the city’s financial recovery plan and the budget assumptions presented to the mayor and council.

As part of The Georgia Trust for Local News, The Dawson News and Albany Herald will continue reporting on the city’s finances as records are produced, and will update readers as outstanding requests are fulfilled.