Tom Berry: Albany’s FY 2016 budget plan has aggressive assumptions

ALBANY — Albany city commissioners started discussions Tuesday morning on the city’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget, a proposal that interim City Manager Tom Berry said is based on “aggressive assumptions.”

Berry gave the commission a quick overview of the proposed budget during the board’s work session after Finance staff distributed copies of the document. The city manager suggested commissioners look over the proposed budget and send any questions to him so that he could have appropriate department heads on hand when budget discussions begin in earnest at next week’s commission work session.

One of the primary assumptions Berry is making with the budget is that none of the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia credits due the city be figured into general fund or utility spending plans. Those credits run out at the end of 2018, and Berry has made it a financial priority to “wean” the city off those funds.

“Now you may decide to use some of that funding for this budget process or spread it over the next two years,” he told the board. “But you have to keep 2018 in mind. This organization cannot stand a $6 million loss each year.”

When Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta sought to make a point about the budget by saying, “I agree that 2018 should be in the back of our minds …” Berry said, “It should be in the front of your minds.”

Other assumptions made by Berry for the FY 2016 budget include:

— A compensation plan of employee increases no greater than 10 percent;

— A general fund transfer from the Albany Utility Board of $15,262,054;

— Stringent evaluation before filling any vacant position;

— A CPI increase of 1.6 percent in solid waste and water fees;

— A $1 increase in the base charge for sewer plus a 5 percent rate increase;

— A stormwater fee monthly increase of $1 per Equivalent Residential Unit; and

— No rate increase in electric or natural gas.

Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard, Ward VI’s Tommie Postell and Marietta said they were concerned about utility increases written into the budget proposal.

“I said at our retreat that I’m opposed to the $1 increase in stormwater fees,” Howard said. “That seems like an unfounded mandate to me, and I don’t want to be known as a commissioner who balances the city’s budget on the backs of our (utility) ratepayers.”

Postell said that while increases in stormwater fees give the city an opportunity to collect from nonprofits that pay no taxes but use city services, he’s concerned that the increases impact “Joe Citizen” as well.

Marietta asked if, rather than having funds transferred to the city’s general fund from six of the city’s seven utility enterprise funds, that money could be used in place of proposed utility rate increases.

“You have to remember, if you push a balloon in one area, it’s going to pop out somewhere else,” Berry said. “What you see are proposals made by our utility board. They make proposals, you’re the ones who approve the budget. This board has more power than any other government entity that’s been around here. You can affect change through utilities and staffing.

“If you decide to give property owners a tax break, you can do that. But I think you have to be careful and remember that whatever you do in one area will impact another. I think you’re going to have to look at all of the money in this budget.”

Ward III Commissioner B.J. Fletcher encouraged her colleagues to consider what’s best for the city in the long run.

“One thing I’m committed to doing is putting re-election aside and focusing on what’s best for the city,” she said. “I talk to my constituents, a lot of them individually, about utilities, but we have to come up with a plan that will put us in good shape when the MEAG credits run out. Now’s not the time for us to start back-tracking on the things we’ve agreed on.”

Howard said he’d like for the board to complete a thorough discussion of the budget before signing off on it.

“I think we’ve got to do like Tina Turner says, take it ‘nice and easy,’ nice and slow,” the Ward I commissioner said.