The Waycross City Commission will begin consideration of the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget next week with a target of passage well before the June 30 deadline.
City Finance Director Greg Smith was to present the proposed budget to commissioners early this week ahead of the first of public briefing to the commission at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 20. The remainder of the budget schedule includes a second presentation in a public hearing at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 3, and the second of two required public hearings June 20 in conjunction with the commission’s 5 p.m. bimonthly meeting.
A vote on the ledger could come at that session.
The Ware County Board of Education was scheduled to vote on tentative budget for next fiscal year at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday.
The city’s budget schedule is in contrast to last year when the commission didn’t approve the current FY 24-25 budget of $42.668 million until October 15. That process was hampered by the death of District 1 Commissioner Norman E. Davis in April and removal of Alvin Nelson from his District 5 seat in May pending his appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court of the lower court ruling on a lawsuit by Henry Strickland challenging the results of the 2023 election in which Nelson defeated incumbent Strickland.
That left only Commissioners Sheinita Bennett, Katrena Felder and the late Diane Hopkins to consider the ledger with a unanimous vote needed for passage. The first attempt in late June died for lack of a second on a motion by Bennett for approval.
The three did agree on approval of a resolution for the city to continue operating on its existing FY23-24 ledger until approving its successor.
The second attempt at passage in early August failed on a 2-1 vote with Bennett in favor and Felder and Hopkins opposed.
Nelson was returned to his seat in September by order of the Supreme Court after it agreed to hear his appeal in its December term. During the October budget, Nelson joined Bennett in the affirmative while Felder and Nelson changed their votes from the August vote to make approval unanimous.
