Augusta commissioners reconvened their meeting on the city budget and, after lengthy debate, accepted the administration’s morning proposal with the proposed excise (energy) tax removed, sending the remaining detailed work to a follow-up session scheduled for 9 a.m. on Dec. 2.

Administrator Allen told the commission the revised package removes the excise tax and reflects a mix of departmental cuts, hiring-freeze proposals and additional reductions to nongovernmental organization (NGO) funding to reduce a projected deficit. She said the administration’s updated scenarios left roughly $741,170 in available fund balance under one option and explained that switching the proposed millage (the “meal”/property rate) to 1.0 mill instead of 0.85 would yield about $1,200,000 more in revenue.

The most contested items were a proposed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for employees and the level and targeting of any millage increase. Several commissioners said they would not support raising taxes without deeper cuts or a better accounting of the city’s external grant and NGO commitments. Commissioner Jordan Johnson proposed a substitute motion to extend the hiring freeze to six months and adopt a 1% COLA in lieu of larger employee increases; that substitute was put to a roll-call and failed 2–9. The body then approved the original, updated package excluding the excise tax by roll call, 9–2.

Legal counsel and staff repeatedly cautioned that a property tax (millage) increase is part of the general-fund revenue stream and cannot be structured as a separate special tax for a single office; any allocation to a department is an internal budget decision. Attorney Turner Plunkett also warned that constitutionally created offices (for example, the sheriff or courts) can seek judicial relief if the commission’s appropriation leaves them unable to meet statutory duties.

Commissioners and staff agreed on several short-term consensus items during the session: a baseline of department reductions, a hiring-freeze option, and targeted additional NGO reductions (details to be distributed to commissioners). The session ended with a request that staff circulate the updated spreadsheet of agreed items before the Dec. 2 meeting and at least one commissioner asking for a longer (four- to five-hour) follow-up meeting to run line-by-line through the budget.

Votes at a glance: the substitute motion (1% COLA + 6-month hiring freeze, no excise tax) failed on roll call, 2–9. The original modified package (morning proposal with excise tax removed) passed on roll call, 9–2. Commissioners scheduled further deliberations for Dec. 2 at 9 a.m.

Next steps: staff will circulate the updated budget spreadsheet showing the specific expense reductions and revenue assumptions, and the commission will reconvene Dec. 2 to continue line-item review.