Newman City holds public hearing on proposed $73.2 million FY2026 budget; staff proposes millage rollback to zero

Newman City officials opened a special-call council meeting Dec. 9 for a public hearing on the proposed FY2026 budget, during which staff outlined revenue gains tied to a newly passed floating local option sales tax and described staffing and capital investments the city plans for next year.

Nick Kelsey, a city staff member who led the presentation, said the city is proposing a general fund budget of $43,400,000 for FY2026 and described the plan as balanced without using reserves. "We are presenting to you a budget of $43,400,000. It is a balanced budget," he said, adding that the overall spending plan across all funds is about $73,200,000.

Kelsey told the council Newman City is fiscally strong with about nine months of reserves and no debt. He said the FY2026 general fund figure represents a 14.57% increase over the prior year and that the city’s budgets have grown roughly 55.3% since 2021. Staff cautioned that some capital projects in the $73.2 million plan may not be completed in the first year.

A central revenue change in the proposal is the recently approved floating local option sales tax (FLOSS). Kelsey said the city expects sales tax to account for roughly 56% of revenue under the new structure and plans to roll back the millage rate to zero; staff estimates collections from FLOSS at about $12,000,000. Kelsey described how the pennies from the sales tax are distributed among the state, local school board, SPLOST and participating jurisdictions and gave percentage shares for the city’s portion.

On spending priorities, staff proposed 16 additional positions — 11 in public safety — and said two of the new police positions would be paid for through a COPS grant program. The plan also includes design and capital money for projects such as a Fire Station 3 remodel, continued street work, parks projects (including bicentennial and Greenville Street parks), cemetery improvements, vehicle purchases for new crews and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) upgrade for city systems. Kelsey said about $24,160,000 is held in restricted funds, largely associated with housing grants, and that ARPA funds are close to being fully spent.

Sanitation officials said the sanitation fund budget would be $5,600,000 (a 6.6% increase from the prior year), noting much of sanitation revenue — roughly 67% — comes from residential garbage fees passed to the private hauler. A member of the public raised questions about recycling availability for cardboard and other materials. Phyllis Graham, who identified herself as a member of the Keep Newnan Beautiful Commission, asked, "How much of that is going towards recycling?"

Kelsey responded that Newman City does not operate a dedicated recycling center and said the private hauler separates recyclables under its service. An unidentified city staff member explained the current contract requires a minimum of 20% of commingled cans be sent to a sorting facility in Montgomery, Alabama called Repower South, and acknowledged there have been questions about auditing what actually reaches the recycling facility.

The council did not adopt the budget at the hearing; Kelsey repeated that formal adoption is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026. With no further public comment, the presiding official closed the public hearing and the special-call meeting was adjourned. The council’s regular meeting was set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Actions and any formal votes on specific ordinances or budget adoption were not taken at the Dec. 9 hearing; staff and council will return to consider adoption per the schedule provided.