Columbia County study calls incorporation as a city ‘fiscally feasible’
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - A fiscal feasibility study shows that it is feasible for the unincorporated areas of Columbia County to form a city.
The study has been in the works since March 2023, and now county leaders get to see what it says.
“Getting that back we at least now know that the potential incorporation and consolidation is at least fiscally feasible,” said Columbia County Manager Scott Johnson.
According to the report, franchise fees for those not in Harlem or Grovetown could be around $20 annually. If the county consolidates to a city, then the cost could get canceled out.
READ THE REPORT:
“Residents in the unincorporated area are paying franchise fees and they’re getting nothing in return,” said Johnson. “They will, in fact, pay a higher franchise fee towards power bills if this goes through, but that difference is negligible. It’s about $1.91 a month or $22 a year. However, we found that with $8 million in revenue, we can reduce property taxes significantly, which would help offset any additional costs that the citizens may have.”
The change to the city won’t change how the government currently works.
“The best thing about Columbia County now is we’re providing a lot of services to our residents and we act very much like a city would act normally. By incorporating and consolidating, I don’t really see much change. Our form of government is not going to change,” said Johnson. “Our sheriff’s office is not going to change. We’re not looking to add any additional positions or any additional layers of government. Any additional taxes or anything like that. This is simply something that we can do on paper that would potentially help us financially, help our citizens financially, and continue to let us operate the way that we’ve always operated.”
Mailing addresses won’t change, either.
“I know that that was a big concern for people as we continue down this road to figure out what this new city may be named. A lot of people are very fond of where they live. Therefore, if you live in Appling now, which is unincorporated, you can still have an Appling mailing address, or Evans or Martinez or whatever the case may be, and certainly the cities of Harlem and Grovetown will continue to keep their identity and will continue to keep their governments intact,” he said.
Moving forward, the county will weigh factors that go into this potential change.
“We know that financially is feasible. But we don’t know that it’s the right thing to do for the community at this time. Our commissioners are still digesting the report, and we don’t have a consensus yet as to how we should move forward. But one thing we do want to do is to make sure we get this report out in the hands of our citizens. Let them take a look,” said Johnson.
The county will eventually hold informational sessions about the change to better inform those about what this all means.
For the county to change to a city, a bill would have to be made in the statehouse and then voted on in 2025 by those in the county.
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