MEIGS — City of Meigs officials discussed the lack of a budget and a potential remedy at a public hearing Tuesday night. 

Mayor Cheryl Walters presented a budget compiled of figures from a 2015 audit — the last set of numbers verified for the city. 

“Because there was no budget in 2016, we had to go back to 2015,” Walters said. “We had to have a starting point.” 

Walters also state the last budget for the City of Meigs does not match the chart of accounts for the State of Georgia in certain areas. 

The plan of action Walters suggested to council members present for the budget hearing — Dorothy Wimes, Lizzie Battle, and Tommy White — was to adopt a revised budget as an ordinance or resolution, once the figures for 2016 are assimilated. 

The budget complied of the 2015 audit figures was suggested to be adopted as a temporary budget. Walters also proposed the council coming together to craft a budget, along with compiling a line-item budget. 

According to Walters, the figures for 2016 would be completed in mid-January. 

Currently, Meigs City Hall staff is training and transitioning to the QuickBooks system. The transition includes the clerks entering each bill Meigs has paid in 2016, which would aid in budget compiling. The staff is currently entering bills for May. 

End of the year figures would be available Jan. 1, Walters said. 

The timeline city council entities follow when crafting a budget was also discussed, as a budget is typically started in August and finalized and adopted at the beginning of January. 

Amongst discussion, other suggestions for budget improvement included reconciling the budget each month and each council member receiving a packet with monthly budget information prior to each meeting.  

Reporter Jordan Barela can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1826.