Centerville makes decision on workforce housing development

CENTERVILLE, Ga. — Centerville’s city council met Tuesday night, making strides towards setting a budget and closing up loose ends for a point recommendation for a developer hoping to bring new apartments to the city.

The first order of business was the budget: City Accountant Carol Harrison presented figures recommended by the city’s budget committee for fiscal year 2024.

The total recommended budget is just over $15 million, broken down into an $8 million enterprise fund, $6 million in the general fund, $2.5 million in special revenue funds and almost $750,000 in capital project funds.

The budget went up 12% from last year, an increase Councilman Justin Wright explained is due to the election fund doubling as a result of a state law governing the matter. Wright added that increases are also expected to come from a salary bump for city employees, and personnel increases in places.

Wright called for department heads to send memos documenting needs from city departments and a breakdown of contingency funds, as well as a documented history of transfers between departments for things like emergency repairs. All this is to give the city a view of where money is being spent, and will be presented later.

Mayor Pro Tem Robert Bird suggested that contingency funds, while they remain untouched for a season, may need to be used at some point. He also called for transparency when those funds are used.

Circling back to department needs, Councilman Edward Armijo explained that personnel explanations are taken into account during budget committee meetings, and that many of the increases are in anticipation for future issues that need addressing. In all of this, Armijo reassured the public that the city is being cautious.

“We’re being very conservative on the decisions that we are making on it, because we don’t want to just open it wide open, but there are certain things. When you receive the explanations — which we’ll also provide — to why we’re doing certain things which are different than we traditionally do,” Armijo said.

Wright responded, urging the budget to be balanced and sharpened on behalf of citizens who are paying more for essentials in the wake of reassesment, urging council to ask if there are budget items that are timed correctly.

“We’re looking at a struggling economy. Everything costs more. I paid $100 for a tank of gas, and it costs more for us, but it costs more for folks who are paying for these taxes as well. You can go out and negotiate some of these other things, but you can’t negotiate your tax rates; you’re stuck with it,’ Wright said.

Harrison responded, saying that in crafting the budget, she looked at a potential increase of 60,000 in property taxes from reassessment, calling the value a conservative number.

Councilman J. Michael Evans responded, saying that the potential budget is a good springboard for refinement.

“Now that we all have the budget at hand, we have an opportunity to go through it and take a look, see what we think, and come back to the group,” Evans said.

The presentation of the budget was a point of information, and no vote was taken to adopt a budget. A public hearing related to the budget will be scheduled for June 6, and a final budget will be adopted on June 20.

Credit card payments came up during earlier budget meetings. From April 2022 to March 2023, processing payments online has cost the city $69,000. Harrison said credit card surcharges have been discussed to offset these fees.

A charge of $2 per transaction would offset about $52,000 in fees, according to Harrison, while a 2% charge for credit card machines would offset about $10,000.

Council asked Harrison to bring forth a recommendation and they will vote on a future date. Harrison responded by saying the $2 flat convenience fee would be most reasonable, with a 3% fee for credit card payments. Council will vote on the matter at their next meeting, on May 16.

Finally, Council voted on a recommendation to award two Georgia Initiative for Community Housing points to a developer bringing in housing to the area.

The Sentry Apartments proposal was discussed at the last meeting, and would include a four-story apartment complex with a fitness room, coworking space, playground, pavilion, and security on site.

After evaluating the project with a rubric, the city concluded that Sentry Apartments would receive the points in their letter of recommendation to the state, with Councilman Wright explaining the reasoning, including providing an increased need for housing in the community. He added later that he is a fan of projects that bring workforce housing to the city, with multiple councilmen adding these projects are a good opportunity for citizens to find good quality affordable housing.

“We believe that the developer’s experience, inclusivity and quality of the development will help with the overall economic health of our community,” Wright said.

Economic Development Director Shannon Bryant will draft a final letter recommending the points, which will be signed by the mayor, and then submitted to the state from the apartment’s developer by May 19.

After final comments, council then went into an executive session for personnel matters, then the meeting was adjourned. A livestream of the meeting and supporting documents can be found on the city’s Facebook page: “City of Centerville, Georgia-Government.”

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