City Council rolls back its millage rate

The Dublin City Council voted 5-1 to roll back its millage rage from 5.948 to 4.6 mills during Thursday’s meeting, with Councilman Bennie Jones being the lone “no” vote. 

City Treasurer Blake Daniels, who filled in for City Manager Josh Powell, said the inflationary growth in the tax digest they had to recognize was $174 million.

Jones addressed why he voted this way during council comments at the end of the meeting. By rolling the millage rate, the city is two mills below the county.

“A city our size should not be below six mills,” Jones said. “Our employees have been out there during (the hurricane), were out there working while they had their own stuff to worry about. These same employees who busted their butts during the storm deserve to make a livable wage.”

Jones said grants are good, but the city has to put money in to get them. He said Ward 1, which he represents, and Ward 2 are two of the worst in the city.

“We’ve got issues that need to be solved,” Jones said. “We can’t solve these issues if we keep rolling back the millage rate.” 

Jones called it “very ironic” that the Dublin City Board of Education decided to have its first millage rate meeting at the same time the city had their regular scheduled meeting.

“Thank you for coming here, but that’s where you need to be at,” Jones said. “I can’t tell you their story. When talking about the millage rate, I know what we need to do. We are rolling back like we have all this money. The city of Dublin millage rate is not your problem. I can promise you that. We are only rolling back a couple of dollars. That’s it. … Go to the school and ask what they do with their money. Let them tell you their story.” 

Dublin Mayor Joshua Kight agreed with some of Jones’ points and had some he felt needed clarification.

“The city does have $24 million in reserves,” Kight said. “Even at a 4.6 mill rollback rate, we’ll have over $300,000 more in tax revenue than we had budgeted to have this year and five of the items that we approved (during the meeting) were funded by grants.”

Kight said the millage rate was one of a small number of revenue sources for the city.

“I’m very proud of this council for voting 5-1 to roll the millage back full,” the mayor said. 

Jones also commented on seeing people helping each other after Hurricane Helene hit the area on Sept. 27.

“I wish we could keep this going, not only through hard times but going forward,” Jones said. “We are too small of a city to allow outside politics to divide us. We went to school with each other, we’re neighbors and we know our children. We need to be kind to each other, and at the same time, we’re going to have a difference of opinions. Just because we disagree doesn’t mean we have to fall out because we didn’t agree. We’re not going to agree on everything. God did not create us this way.” 

In other meeting news:

– Antonio Lanier, who works in code enforcement officer, was named the city of Dublin 2024 Employee of the third Quarter. Lanier later received his 10-year pin.

“Antonio has a positive attitude and always has a smile on his face and always a word of encouragement,” Kight said. “We really appreciate the job you do for the city.” 

– Owen Bracewell and Jeffery Foskey, both members of the Dublin Fire Department, Chris Stanley in planning and development, received their 10-year pins. 

– Verlinda Chatman in human resources, and Brad Grimes in the gas department, both received their 30-year pins. 

“These are special recognitions,” Kight said. “Congratulations to all of these employees. We appreciate your years of dedication and would love to see for many more years.” 

– Council approved T Lake Environmental to repair a storm drain in Earlwood subdivision for $27,565.95. Daniels said there were two storm drain issues there that had deteriorated beyond repair.

“The time to complete the project will be once they are notified of the approval, it is estimated that there will be two weeks to order the material and an additional two weeks to instal those materials,” Daniels said.

– Council approved the Georgia Gang Activity Prosecution grant program. Dublin Police Chief Keith Moon asked the council to approve this program. 

– Council approved the Laurens County Joint Comprehensive Plan, Vision 2050. 

– Council approved the 2024 Community Development Block Grant award through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for street, drainage and sidewalk improvements on West Mary Street. The award amount is approximately $940,000 and the city will match it with about $50,000 cash, $100,000 of in-kind effort from city staff for a total of roughly $1.1 million.

City Planner Tara Bradshaw said construction in 2025 and it has to be completed by 2026.

“This is a long needed infrastructure improvement to the West Mary Street area,” Kight said. “This is something we’ve all been wanting to do for a long time.” 

– Council approved an agreement for emergency disaster recovery and FEMA public assistance with Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood, LLC.

– Council approved Sikes Brothers for a big 2024 resurfacing project. 

“I believe we have 20 streets that will be resurfaced during this project,” Kight said. “We were talking during pre-council, and this is probably the most number of streets that have ever been a part of a single season of resurfacing. Practically all of this is being paid for out-of-state grants and the balance of it being paid for from excess sales tax dollars.”

Dublin Engineer Matthew Bradshaw said this project should begin before the end of the year and it should take about three months.

“It will depend on weather,” Bradshaw said.

– Council approved the selection of health and supplement insurance benefits package for 2025 for city employees.

– Council approved an amendment with Garbutt Construction to establish a guaranteed maximum price for the Oconee Gym project.

– During citizens’ comments, Rae Bloodworth asked about an update for Stubbs Gym because there had not been an update on it recently. Kight said they are still waiting on the design options.

“We thought it would be back this week, but the hurricane cause a delay in that,” Kight said.

– Jacqueline Denise Jaudon-Wright presented a big thank you card to the city council for everyone pulling together after the storm.

“I want to thank you for all of the hard work that we collectively have been brought back to normal,” she said. “I am going to present this to the mayor and these are pictures, from The Courier Herald, and people can sign these blank pages for the citizens to thank for the great clean up.”

Kight thanked her for the presentation.