Baldwin leaders are facing a $722,000 deficit in next year’s proposed budget and are struggling with how to make up for it.
Department heads initially presented their wish lists to the mayor and council, with those numbers coming in some $1.1 million over anticipated revenues.
During two eight-hour days of retreat recently, council members shaved several hundred thousand dollars off that list, arriving at the current overage.
Thursday night, two dozen residents showed up at a town hall meeting to air their concerns and hear proposed budget justification from city officials.
Several residents initially resisted the idea of a tax increase of any amount, saying city leaders need to find more ways to cut. After hearing from department heads and elected leaders, several of those residents changed their minds.
Mayor Joe Elam explained that in order for the city to be prepared to accommodate growth and make that growth pay its own way, it is essential to get the numbers right now.
Possible cost-cutting options include a $59,000 cut by not adding a code enforcement officer to handle city ordinance complaints, a $7,500 reduction in training and travel, and not returning to a 24-hour police department.
Residents in attendance say they do not want to continue to rely on Habersham County deputies to answer emergency calls inside Baldwin, or Banks County deputies to respond to the portion of the city in that county. Instead, they said they would rather have response of a police officer from within the city limits.
Growth coming to Baldwin includes a warehouse-style liquor store and a 10,000-square-foot daycare on Highway 365, as well as hundreds of homes and other residential units. Those establishments will add to the tax digest and collections, but also will stretch demand on public safety agencies and the city’s public utilities.
Baldwin Fire Chief Joe Roy, who has been with the city for 36 years, said call volume for his department is up 20% just since January, and already this week have included responses to a wreck with three critically-injured people who had to be extricated after being trapped in two vehicles on 441 Bypass at Industrial Boulevard and an overturned tractor-trailer truck that kept personnel on Duncan Bridge for seven hours.
One of the ways Roy said he can reduce the number of additional personnel needed for his department is to go from a 24-hour on/72-hour off work schedule to a 24/48 rotation like most other departments in the area have in place.
By doing that, Roy said he could add those two extra personnel to existing shifts, meaning he only would have to hire one additional firefighter to get three firefighters on duty every shift – up from the two on duty now.
The shift scheduling change does not touch the department’s aging fire apparatus, that includes front-line fire trucks that are 28 to 32 years old. City leaders are still working on a plan to begin regular replacement of those emergency units.
After about two hours, several residents said they understand the need for a tax increase to keep current levels of public safety and utilities – especially after hearing the city rolled back the millage rate previously to try to help struggling residents during and right after the pandemic.
City leaders said they will continue to explore possible cuts before deciding how to proceed. If a tax increase is needed, the council will hold three advertised public hearings before taking a vote.
