The Augusta charter review committee agreed Friday to keep the urban and suburban service districts in the draft charter after legal counsel and committee members warned of a revenue shortfall if the districts were eliminated.

Unidentified Speaker (label 1), presenting the finance review, said a countywide replacement for the urban service district’s millage "will not be sufficient enough to generate the same amount of revenue," describing a long-standing "tax gap" tied to how sales taxes are credited to the urban district. The committee said that gap — created "many, many years ago" — counsels retaining the separate districts in the charter.

Members also raised legacy pension liabilities tied to older pension systems. Committee members noted a small number of current employees remain covered by preconsolidation plans. Unidentified Speaker (label 1) said those liabilities could continue "in 20, 30 years" until the last beneficiaries retire, and the panel discussed continuing to receive periodic reports on those plans.

The committee acknowledged a charter clause that formerly required the former City of Augusta to pay certain outstanding debt is now moot; legal counsel confirmed there is "no longer any outstanding general obligation debt" that anyone is aware of and recommended the provision be removed.

Procedureally, members agreed to place a motion on the Jan. 22 meeting agenda to strike the now-obsolete debt language from the charter. The committee did not take a final vote Friday; members asked for staff and counsel to prepare redline language and additional fiscal detail ahead of the next meeting.

What’s next: committee members asked staff to assemble clearer fiscal comparisons that show the revenue impacts of any change to service-district boundaries and to return with suggested charter language at the Jan. 22 meeting.