An accumulation of decades of willful neglect have now amounted to a $743 million tax bill for Columbus residents, raising serious questions of the competence of city officials. With crumbling infrastructure and failed ‘tourism’ efforts, the city’s future doesn't seem so economically ‘amazing’ at the present. Are we on the right track?
JAILHOUSE IN SHAMBLES
After a shocking 22-year legal history, a consulting firm found the jail is physically and operationally dangerous once again. Deputy city manager Pam Hodge presented a plan favoring a rebuild of the entire facility at a cost of more than $250 million.
The most costly option proposed by Hodge is currently projected to cost as much as $277.5 million to taxpayers.
With violent crime continuing to rise throughout the city, many residents have pointed out how the jail’s overcrowding, poor operations, and atrocious conditions may be resulting in the city choosing not to fairly prosecute offenders nor sentence hard jail time, which puts violent offenders back on the street to recidivate into committing even more violent crime.
The jail's state of shambles comes just three years after the Department of Justice released the jail from its 20 years of federal oversight.
Now, according to Hodge’s briefing during the city council meeting held on January 3, 2023, the jail has quickly fallen into an atrocious state of disrepair which was described as both physically and operationally dangerous. Hodge’s presentation can be found in-full on pages 174-200 of the meeting’s agenda packet.
Read more and see the photos of the jail’s insanely neglected and decrepit condition in our full in-depth article.
CSU POST OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Whoops! In an attempt to highlight ‘tourism’ in the Fountain City, Columbus State University forgot what city they live in and posted a photo of Columbus, Ohio instead.
In a recent post made to the university’s official Facebook account on January 16, 2023, CSU shared an article from MSN.com titled “The 14 most amazing attractions in Columbus.”
Unfortunately for the Georgia-based university, its post featured a prominent photo of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio.
It is unknown how the entirety of the university’s communications department was somehow unable to catch this egregious error before publication. The well-known national memorial in Ohio could not legitimately be mistaken to be in Georgia. As a state-funded educational institution, it almost seems impossible for a communications error like this to have occurred.
The aMaZinG tourism post comes just days after American Airlines announced it will be ceasing its operations at the Columbus Georgia Airport, citing low demand and a lack of profitability as the reason for the airline’s departure. There were simply not enough local flyers for the airline to continue its service at CSG.
As the city’s outbound communications continue to inadvertently create a parody of its own brand, this recent post from CSU appears to demonstrate how ‘talented and educated people’ aren’t likely to stick around.
Explore our full article to see CSU’s botched social media post of lovely Columbus, Ohio for yourself.
PHENIX CITY STATE OF THE CITY
Phenix City will be hosting its annual State of the City Address in the coming week.
The informative event will be held on Thursday, January 26 at 6 p.m. at the Martin Idle Hour Park Community Center at 3743 Moon Lake Dr. in Phenix City.
The Mayor and City Council will discuss the city’s finances, current and future development projects, and other topics that affect residents of Phenix City.
Explore our full article for details and links to the event and its free live stream.
COLUMBUS TAX BILL: $743 MILLION
Holy Cow! When costs for the new government center’s SPLOST, additional building purchases, and new Muscogee County Jail are added up, the Columbus government is taxing its residents a whopping $743 million — or roughly $3,624 from each of the city’s roughly 205k residents.
As any government is only capable of producing revenue from the pockets of the public, that three- quarter billion -bill will be paid for by yours truly: the Columbus taxpayer.
With a population of roughly 205,000 people, that breaks down to a tax bill of $3,624 from every man, woman, and child in Columbus.
Broken down another way, with roughly 73,000 households in the Fountain City, that cost will be roughly $10,178 per household.
You read that correctly: that’s $10,178 from every household in Columbus to pay for the new infrastructure our local government has already approved to build in our city.
It will all come from our pockets, over time, one way or another, at an average rate of more than ten grand per roof.
As poverty continues to rise throughout the city, it is curious as to why CCG feels the need to place such outrageous strains on their residents, who only have a per-capita income of just $28,523 per resident.
Explore our full article to see our interactive chart along with an in-depth look at our $743 million tax bill and its history.
DOCUMENT SHOWS CCG NEGLECTED BUILDINGS SINCE 2007
A technical document shows three different mayors knew the government center building wasn’t being maintained since at least 2007, but CCG blamed the building’s ‘old age’ for 16 years instead. Taxpayers are now left with the bill to replace the building.
Despite the 2007 document showing a known lack of maintenance for the past 16 years, three different mayoral administrations have continued to blame the building’s ‘old age’ for its decrepit condition.
Now, taxpayers are left to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to fund the replacement of buildings their local government knowingly failed to maintain for no less than 16 years; a third of the 50-year-old building’s entire existence.
Explore our full article to see the document yourself along with the timeline of the apparent deceitful cover-up offered by CCG for the past 16 years.
POLICE TO GET EDUCATION PAY; OLDER OFFICERS LEFT OUT
Employees of the city’s Public Safety Department will now receive incentive pay for educational degrees, though older and more experienced officers aren’t effectively offered the same opportunity.
After weeks of previous debate surrounding the topic, city council voted in favor of the incentive pay during their meeting on Jan. 3, 2023.
While the incentive pay does seem more than fair to many, others feel the new pay structure may also cause unfair advantages for those with degrees that aren’t directly applicable to their jobs.
The crux of the controversy, however, stems from how the rule change affects different employees based on their age.
While the intention of the amendment seems pure, its wording appears likely to create the effect of pay discrimination based on age.
According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers are prohibited from discriminating pay based on the age of their employees.
Explore our full article to see the new amendment yourself, along with a detailed explanation of how the new rule might cause serious controversy for years to come.
What are your thoughts on this controversial topic? Do you think the incentive pay structure can be improved? Let us and others know on our Facebook page.
THE WEEK AHEAD
With ‘economic development’ appearing to be just as ironic of a buzzword in this new year as it was in the last, the side effects of that ‘development’ continue to take a toll on our city in ways that our leadership appears to be willfully blind of. As it turns out, laser-focusing on just one desired end-state tends to have a plethora of other undesired effects that can often negate the entirety of your efforts in the first place. Columbus has been no exception to that dynamic rule. Are we on the right path? What are your thoughts as the reader?
Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see our upcoming stories as they break throughout the coming week.
Ask the hard questions. Fix the hard answers. Rake the muck.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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