AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Mayor Pro-Tem Wayne Guilfoyle knew this day was coming, where the commission would no longer have rescue act dollars to balance the budget. “These are the hard decisions we’ve been trying to make over these past two years, but it has been ignored. It has been fought from my colleagues. They would rather work off emotions that’s not the way to run a business or a government,” said Guilfoyle.On Tuesday, commissioners scheduled to hear the administrators’ 2026 budget recommendation.
The 2025 budget was balanced using more than $7 million dollars in rescue act funds, but those funds are no longer available. “Everything else is going up the respective costs of doing business. Unfortunately, our revenues are not going up so when you have that type of problem you have to figure out what can you do to make sure you have a balanced budget,” said City Administrator Tameka Allen City Administrator.Commissioners are facing difficult decisions: a tax increase or deep cuts impacting services.“There will have to be additional reductions in some of the things. We provide whether it be the services or whether it be the respective budget, which will cause those services to decline,” said Allen. “Is a tax increase inevitable?”“If there is a tax increase, I’m not in favor of it,” said Guilfoyle.A tax increase next year would be a double whammy for taxpayers where thousands this year are paying increases in garbage and streetlight fees, but some understand the need.“Of course, we would all like to pay less not any of us have more money than we can use buy I don’t mind paying for the services that we get,” said Carlene Murphy.The big budget debate is ready to debut…