FLOWERY BRANCH – The City of Flowery Branch has discovered money it didn’t realize it had: over $19,000 in extra hotel/motel tax revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2020.
Flowery Branch Finance Director Alisha Gamble told city council members Thursday evening that city council approval was needed to officially accept the unanticipated monies before an adjustment could be made to FY 2020’s closed-out budget.
“A balanced budget is required by Georgia law on local government budgets,” Gamble explained. She said the closed 2020 budget was ready for independent audit, but the $19,009 had to be included in the year’s accounting data before the auditors could begin their work.
“Our year hasn’t been down like we thought it was going to be,” Councilman Ed Asbridge said. Asbridge was referring to the economic effects of COVID-19 that city leaders saw coming and feared.
The final four months of the 2020 budget year (March, April, May and June) were COVID-19 affected with travel bans in place across parts of the country and a general hesitancy to leave home among the populace. Many hotels and motels across Georgia faced insolvency because of the resulting glut of vacant rooms and cancelled travel plans, but Flowery Branch destinations appear to have escaped the brunt of the impact.
Gamble and City Manager Bill Andrew said after adjournment of Thursday’s meeting that the unanticipated tax revenue didn’t necessarily mean that city hotels and motels escaped all of the financial impact of coronavirus. Rather, it was suggested, the first nine months of the FY2020 year were so overly strong that the virus related downturn that ended the year was muted.
Another factor may have contributed to the softened negative impact of COVID-19 on Flowery Branch lodging accommodations according to Andrew: workers brought to the area by contractors for projects already underway kept local hotels and motels partially filled.
“We’ve been getting larger reports…recently…that they have been having people staying there on work business,” Andrew said.
“That’s my understanding, because we haven’t been having, obviously, the events with the (Atlanta) Falcons and things like that, but we’re still getting people staying there, more than we anticipated,” Andrew added.
Nonetheless, like finding a handful of dollars in a coat you haven’t wore since last winter, $19,009 is welcomed and that sum was officially accepted with a smile and a unanimous vote from city council members.
