Commission meeting rundown: New FY26 budget proposal has no tax increase, dispute over alcohol license delayed

The mayor proposed a budget for fiscal year 2026 including more spending without a tax increase.  

“We will certainly not be raising the millage rates,” Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller said. “We’re in very good shape, but we’re going to hold the line right now because of market uncertainty and things going on in the national arena that we can’t really control.”

The $219.8 million budget Miller proposed to the county commission on Tuesday calls for maintaining the millage rate at 9.9 mills. 

Though the general fund budget has increased year-over-year, from $174 million in 2022 to $212 million last year, the mayor’s presentation shows revenue from property taxes has decreased from $80.8 million in 2022 to $57.7 million last year. 

“Despite if any (property tax) assessment went up, Macon-Bibb County has netted $30 million less because we have rolled the millage rate back and we continue to do so despite getting less money from our property tax,” Miller said. “And how do we make that money up? We made it up through sales tax.”

A public hearing on the proposed budget is set for June 3 at 5:30 p.m. It is set to be approved at the commission’s June 17 meeting. 

In other business Tuesday, the Log Cabin Drive daiquiri bar — where three people were killed and six others were maimed in a shooting on Sunday — was on the agenda to have its alcohol license renewed.

About a dozen people filed out of the commission chambers at city hall after the mayor said he planned to table the matter. He did not provide a reason for the delay. Federal agencies including the FBI and DEA have joined in on the investigation into the shooting at Midtown Daiquiri Bar and Grill, which is located where Francar’s Wings once was on the west side of town.

Also Tuesday, the county voted to settle an undisclosed legal matter for $200,000. No other details about the settlement were available.

The county commission also voted on other items including: 

• Acceptance of a $9,840 grant from National Center for Safe Routes to School to improve intersections on Anthony Road and crosswalks near Ingram-Pye Elementary School. More than $6,000 will be used to cover the costs of supplies. Labor costs include $2,700 to Small Business Administration Director Charise Stephens-Merriweather’s nonprofit, U Create Macon, and $1,205 to Bike Walk Macon. 

• Approval of an agreement with Motivating Youth Foundation Inc. to provide prevention and case management services through its Adult Readiness Program for $135,000 using American Rescue Plan grant money 

• The sale of 4 acres at 151 Madison St. to the Macon Housing Authority for $500,000

• The purchase of Verkada security cameras at Frankie E. Lewis and Cliffview parks for $245,366 from Marietta-based Southern Computer Warehouse

• Approval to authorize the mayor to enter into an independent contractor agreement with Macon Area Habitat for Humanity Inc. to provide $352,703 in Home Investment Partnership Program funds for the construction of three new single-family homes at 1271 Holt Avenue, 1141 Huguenin Avenue and 4286 Worsham Avenue.

• New playground equipment for Tattnall Square Park from Texas-based Kompan Inc. for $150,687 in capital improvement funds. 

• Acceptance of a $34,800 Knight Foundation grant to hire North Carolina-based Raftelis Financial Consultants Inc. to help the county recruit a new chief IT officer.

• Acceptance of a $144,971 grant from the state Justice Coordinating Council for the Juvenile Court Judge. 

• Authorization for the mayor to contract with 1 Accord Technologies two Cisco gateway firewall upgrades at a cost of $168,415 to be paid for with I.T. department money.

• A contract with Illinois-based CDW Government LLC Computer for a web administrator consultant to be paid for with $40,000 in general funds.