THOMASVILLE — Thomasville City Council members approved their 2022 budget, which includes increases in utility rates. 

Council members voted 4-1 in favor of the budget, with David Hufstetler casting the dissenting vote. 

“I think it’s unnecessary,” Hufstetler said. “I feel like Don Quixote, flailing at windmills. I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle.”

The city’s budget includes $136.1 million in operating expenses and $26.4 million in capital expenditures. The budget calls for a 3% increase in water and sewer rates and a $2 per month hike in basic electric charge. 

Hufstetler moved to amend the agenda to adopt the budget aside from enacting the rate increases but it failed for lack of a second. 

He said the city wouldn’t be adversely effected if the rate increases were not approved.

City of Thomasville chief financial officer Ashley Cason said the average monthly bill for a customer inside the city limits would increase by $5.18. Under the adopted increases, the average bill will climb $1.25 a month more for water, a $1.93 a month more for sewer and $2 a month more for electricity. 

The rate increases,  Cason said, will generate $170,000 a year more for water, $180,000 for sewer and about $312,000 for electric. 

Water and sewer currently have a debt of $1.5 million.

“We’re trying to work up enough to cover capital and debt,” Cason said.

Hufstetler pointed out that council members voted two-and-a-half years ago to raise utility rates, and he supported it then.

“Of all the votes we’ve taken before, my conscience has been clear on every single solitary one of them — except for that one. I voted for political expediency, which was a mistake. 

“So here we are, two and a half years later, and in a four-year period we’re raising the rates twice and nobody has yet or will concede this will be the end of it.”

Council member Jay Flowers noted that the city’s utility rates are at or below those of similar-sized and neighboring communities. 

“The burden on their citizens is greater than the burden we place on our citizens,” he said. We deliver electricity far more efficiently than any of our peers.”

The city’s budget also again does not include any ad valorem taxes. 

Residents voice objections

Council members were urged not to adopt the higher utility rates, as some residents argued those hikes would make things harder on low-income families.

“We do not need an increase,” said Lucinda Brown. “The city is not going to fall down because of it. We have a lot of citizens who could pay but we have too many who can’t. 

“For many people, on fixed income, they cannot afford this.”

Reading a statement from the Thomas County Democratic Party opposing the increases, Brenda Griffin said the rate hikes heighten the burden on those least able to pay it.

“This 9% increase in the transfer payment and the resulting higher utility rates mean that those least able to pay would once again shoulder more than their fair share in the rising cost of running this city,” she said. “The city has been putting the heaviest burden on our low-income residents. 

An expense hardly felt by well-off residents can be a severe hardship for those surviving on a tight and often inadequate or fixed income.”

The local Democratic Party also called on the city to look at re-instituting property taxes as a more equitable means of funding.

Council member Wanda Warren said the city needs to look at different ways of funding its operations.

“Do we need to trim our budget? Absolutely.” she said. “We need more revenue sources. that’s something we need to absolutely discuss.”

Flowers said revenues on the electricity side of the ledger have remained relatively flat, adding the city cannot continue to save its way to a balanced budget.

“We’re trying to hold on to the integrity of what we have while we pursue a balanced budget,” he said. “You have to have additional revenues. We have a significant amount of infrastructure that needs to be maintained and repaired.” 

Mayor Greg Hobbs said the city isn’t in the business of turning off people’s services over an additional $5 a month.

“We will try to help them and not cut their service off,” he said.