Macon-Bibb County commissioners have four weeks to review Mayor Lester Miller’s $219.8 million Fiscal Year 2026 budget before voting on June 17.
Miller hit the highlights as he unveiled the spending plan in Tuesday’s county commission meeting and explained that the exact amount of the balanced budget won’t be known until the tax digest is set following the appeals process for property tax assessments that recently were mailed.
Because the spending plan does not include an increase in the tax rate, only one public hearing is scheduled on June 3 at 5:30 p.m.
Commissioners also accepted the results of the 2025 SPLOST election authorizing $450 million in sales tax collections over 10 years and allowing for up to $100 million in bonds to fund projects before the sales tax is collected.
“Otherwise at our current collection rate, you’d be looking at three years before you could ever start any projects with the SPLOST which means we could not pave a single road for three years,” Miller said.
The county announced $50 million is already earmarked for paving county roads and the mayor said he would bring any bond proposal to commissioners for approval.
Commissioners also approved spending more than $245,000 in school speed zone camera ticket revenue for Verkada security cameras at Cliffview Lake Park and Frankie E. Lewis Park.
The county also approved more than $168,000 for enhanced firewall systems to guard against cyber attacks, agreed to hire an IT consultant for $40,000 and accepted a nearly $35,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to assist in recruiting and hiring a new Chief Information Office for the IT department.
For planned affordable housing in Pleasant Hill, the county approved selling four acres at 151 Madison St. to the Macon Housing Authority for $500,000.
After an executive session, commissioners approved a $200,000 legal settlement, but no details of the case were given or included in the ordinance.
Before the meeting, Miller announced the pending alcohol license application for Midtown Daiquiri Bar & Grill is on hold due to the ongoing investigation into the mass shooting that killed three men and wounded six other people early Sunday.
Commissioners also agreed to mark an alcohol license application as incomplete for an immigrant from Zimbabwe pending a ruling on his immigration status.
Senior Assistant County Attorney Michael McNeill explained that the Georgia Department of Revenue reported that he was not currently eligible to hold a state license and would be precluded from having a local license. By marking the application incomplete, the license application fee can be returned to him as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigates.
Here are highlights from Tuesday’s meetings captured in social media posts.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
