It’s budget season around City Hall, as the city government’s finance team continues to work on the 2027 fiscal year budget.
As it currently stands, general fund spending would increase from $16.05 million in the current fiscal year to $18.27 million in the upcoming fiscal year, an increase of 13.8 percent.
However, City Hall is becoming less reliant on revenue from its water and sewer fund to cover its general fund. The general fund is often described as “day-to-day expenses.” A total of $2.52 million would be transferred from the water and sewer fund in the proposed budget, which compares to $4.13 million in the current budget. In turn, this will allow the city to perform more upgrades to its water and sewer system, which has been Milledgeville residents’ biggest gripe in recent years. A total of $990,000 would be set aside for ‘infrastructure” improvements at the Lamar Hamm Water Treatment Facility, which turns 73 this year.
In terms of different departments, City Hall would allocate $500,000 for “overtime pay” at the fire department, which compares to $200,000 in the current budget. Overall, projected fire department spending would rise from $3.72 million in the current fiscal year budget to $4.33 million in the next fiscal year.
Meanwhile, total spending in the police department would increase from $4.91 million to $5.3 million, with roughly half of the increase coming in the form of “computers” and technology upgrades.
Property taxes would account for $5.5 million of the $18.27 million budget, with the remainder coming from sales taxes and other revenue.
The City Council is expected to vote on the new budget later this month.