Minutes of the
Muscogee County School Board/City Council
Joint Tax Committee Meeting
February 24, 2006
Present members of the Tax Committee: Fife Whiteside, James Walker, Skip
Henderson, & Wayne Anthony
Absent members: Gary Allen, Mary Sue Polleys, & Red McDaniel
Visitors: City Manager Isaiah Hugley, Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin, Chief
Administrator Liz Turner, Mayor Pro Tem Rodger, Clerk of Council Tiny
Washington, Finance Director Angela Cole, Assistant City Attorney Jamie
DeLoach, Karen Jones, & Greg Ellington.
Location: Ground Floor Conference room of the Government Center.
Meeting began at 12:06 p.m.
JOINT TAX:
Mr. Fife Whiteside opened the meeting by distributing three separate draft
resolutions that were drawn up by Councilor Anthony, City Manager Isaiah
Hugley, and Mr. Fife Whiteside himself.
Councilor Henderson asked Mr. Whiteside what was the purpose of the resolution
and also apologized for being absent from the last meeting.
Mr. Whiteside explained that at the last meeting, he reported that the
crossover day would be day 33 but after speaking with Mr. Charley Roberts he
discovered that it had been changed to day 30 and yesterday was day 23 of the
General Assembly. He also explained that the committee had seven days until
the crossover day, which gives us four days to work with, according to
Charley. He said it is possible to get something passed in this session of the
General Assembly, and asked if they could get a resolution from both bodies by
Tuesday. He explained that the bill would have to be originated in the House
given that it is a revenue bill. He then stated that Councilor Anthony could
discuss what was talked about in the last meeting, which was the desirability
of trying to get something to the General Assembly during this session.
Councilor Henderson asked why is that. Councilor Anthony responded by saying,
in his opinion, to separate the two big issues. He explained that one issue is
to get the amendment passed and we are also trying to present the needs of the
City for our Community School Board.
Councilor Henderson said he was not thinking along those lines, he was thinking
more in terms of how this thing has gotten us where we are. He said he is
worried that trying to rush this thing through the legislature this year would
do more harm than good. He said his personal opinion is that it would be
better served to try to take it slow because this is something that would be
beneficial in the long run.
Councilor Anthony said if we wait until 2008, he is concerned that we will be
trying to sell two different things to the public.
Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers stated that he was not a member of the committee but
asked could he speak. He said that he agrees with Skip, and on the last
meeting it was agreed upon to talk about this but the idea of trying to get
anything done this year had been abandoned. He said he was a bit surprised to
see the issue come up again because this is going to benefit both of the
organizations long-term. He also said he does embrace the concept of trying to
share the SPLOST and he knows that the School Board has done some homework with
inspecting polling and so forth.
Mr. Whiteside then stated that they have never done a referendum about a
polling. Mayor Pro Tem Rodger said maybe he misunderstood Mr. Whiteside; he
thought there was some polling done.
Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers said that he thinks it would be wise for us to take our
time and do our polling and make sure we understand what our needs are and what
the School Board?s issues are.
Mr. Whiteside explained if it doesn?t go on the ballot as a Constitutional
Amendment in 2006, it couldn?t go to the ballot as a Constitutional Amendment
in 2008. Mr. Whiteside said he had mentioned the 9 Mill Cap on last Tuesday.
Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers then said the City no longer has a great need for Cap.
He said he thinks that there are opportunities to generate revenues from other
sources, which will allow us to put them in line item expenditures as opposed
to a capital projects record.
City Manager Hugley said if we were successful in getting the second local
option sales tax, the thought of using a portion of that money to sustain
operations or to bring operations back up to a level that the citizens have
been accustomed to, would further delay any forward progress on implementing
things like:
UGA Study
Making sure that Public Safety?s Pay is competitive in the region & market
He then stated, we have serious capital needs and about 2% of our overall
budget is allocated to capital.
Mayor Pro Tem asked what is the purpose of this meeting. Councilor Anthony
responded by saying to draw up a resolution regarding a joint sales tax.
Councilor Henderson said he thinks the worst thing that could happen is to
bring this to vote and resolution and have it anything other than unanimous.
He said the secondary danger, which is even greater, is that if it?s
conceivable that it wouldn?t pass.
Councilor Anthony advised that the committee would meet periodically, now until
the fall.
Councilor Henderson suggested that Mr. Hugley?s resolution be sent to all of
the members of the school board and all of the members of council. He also
suggested that the committee meet in less than two months and talk about any
issues and constructive criticism.
Councilor Fife Whiteside stated David Rothschild wants us to know that as a
citizen he is in support of a joint sales tax.
Meeting Adjourned @ 12:50 p.m.
Tameka J. Colbert
Administrative Specialist, II
Recording Secretary
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