Cusseta–Chattahoochee commissioners weigh tax hike as $740,000 budget gap looms

At a series of public hearings in April, County Manager Thomas Weaver told the Board of Commissioners the county was beginning FY2025 with a substantial shortfall. "we are starting at a $740,000.00 deficit and we need to get it down to be balanced," Weaver said during the April 1 hearing.

Weaver and commissioners went through department requests and said some revenue lines were improving — the county’s new SPLOST that began collections and the county ambulance service have both produced additional receipts (Weaver noted ambulance revenues have exceeded $130,000 since its start) — but the gap remained large. Commissioners discussed options including cutting line items, using reserves, and preparing voters for a possible increase in the property tax millage rate if revenues do not close the deficit.

Commissioner Jason Frost urged the board to be realistic about structural pressures on the budget and to consider a tax‑rate increase to avoid repeated reserve draws. Chairman Charles Coffey said a modest change in the millage would not erase the gap, observing that “for every mil we raise it is about 50- 60,000.00,” and that the county may need multiple mils to materially reduce the shortfall.

Officials also discussed HB581 as a potential forward‑looking revenue source but noted that, if placed on a ballot and approved locally in November, HB581 proceeds would not arrive quickly enough to solve the current shortfall. Commissioners instructed staff to prepare a revised budget with proposed cuts and to calculate revenue impacts for different millage scenarios ahead of further hearings.