The Athens City Council voted unanimously to approve its new budget for the upcoming 2024-2025 Fiscal Year during its regularly scheduled meeting Monday, Sept. 23, in council chambers at City Hall.
The 2025 General Fund Operating Budget was the first of the resolutions to be approved Monday evening, boasting more than $50.1 million in total revenues for the upcoming year — a 15.1 percent increase from the 2023-2024 general fund budget.
“Athens is in a great and enviable position of being a small town with very strong revenues,” Council President Dana Henry told The News Courier after the council’s meeting concluded. “We are able to fund our various programs without worrying about income, like a lot of other small towns. We are truly blessed.”
According to information obtained from Athens City Clerk Annette Barnes-Threet, who has worked with other department heads in the past eight weeks to author the new budget, total operating expenditures have also increased to more than $49.5 million in the new budget. That jump is a 12.8 percent increase from last fiscal year’s budget.
“It is a great thing that we have a healthy and robust budget,” Henry said. “We are able to operate and expand services, to make critical updates and offer our employees a decent wage. Sadly, that’s not the case everywhere. Through my contacts with other council members from across the state and region, a lot of communities are hurting.”
Henry highlighted the work of Barnes-Threet and the numerous other department heads who have worked to create and author the new budget in the last eight to nine weeks. She noted the importance of paying city employees a “decent wage,” mentioning a 5 percent cost of living pay allowance increase that will be voted on at a later date.
“It’s a huge process to take on,” Henry said. “We have to see to the needs of our almost 500 employees. We have to look at our capital needs and or infrastructure needs, whether that’s equipment or whatever else, it is by no means an easy project.”
Those sentiments were shared by Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks, who emphasized that the budget is only an outline for the upcoming fiscal year.
“I believe in a very conservative and up-front budget,” Marks told The News Courier. “We screw it down as tight as we can to give us some flexibility for capital expenditures and other things. We are really in a very good shape, we still need to get some of our employees salaries corrected, but overall it’s a great budget I was proud to present to the City Council.”
The City Council also approved the resolutions for Special Revenue Operating Budget, the Gas Services Budget and Water/Wastewater Department Budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Monday.