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COLUMBUS, Ga. — From the city’s budget planning process nearly costing taxpayers $7 million, to the city suffering a homicide rate 4.5x the national average in the first half of the year, to Mill Creek containing 10x the EPA’s limit of E. Coli contamination, here’s all the muck that’s fit to print from the Columbus, Georgia area, along with a look at what to expect in the week ahead.
DESIGN FLAW IN CCG BUDGET PLANNING PROCESS NEARLY COST RESIDENTS MILLIONS
This story was originally published on July 3, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — An apparent design flaw in the city’s budgetary planning process nearly cost residents millions in property tax savings.
The $7 million in tax savings were recently approved by city council during the June 27 meeting. Councilors voted unanimously to roll back the property tax millage rate after initially delaying their vote one week prior on June 20.
The reason for that delay appears to have been tied to the surprise increase in the tax digest, which council members were not made aware of until the absolute last minute, weeks after they had already held committee meetings deliberating the budget.
It took weeks of active civic engagement from local residents through three public hearings to ultimately arrive at the reduction in property taxes.
So what does that mean?
It means city councilors are highly incentivized to never lower the millage rate, as doing so would force them to rework the city’s budget; work they’d already done weeks before. Since lowering the millage rate means less income for the city, the budget would have to be reworked to match the now-lowered income from property taxes.
Without city councilors’ last-minute intervention at the June 27 meeting in response to public outcry on the subject, residents would have found themselves owing $7 million more in property taxes this year alone.
This appears to be a major design flaw of the city’s budgetary planning process.
Explore the full story for a detailed look at how CCG plans its budget and see if you can spot the huge design flaw in CCG’s budget planning process.
HOW LOCAL CITIZEN NEWSPAPERS SPREAD INDEPENDENCE IN A WORLD BEFORE TWITTER
This story was originally published on July 4, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” — Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787.
The printing press was unquestionably the single-most decisive invention in the history of mankind. It freed the control of information by enabling the user to determine what was printed instead of a hegemony who purposefully censored the public.
The role of early colonialist newspapers was absolutely vital to the forging of our nation and the freedoms we all enjoy today. Without those early American newspapers, there would have never been an American revolution, a Declaration of Independence, nor a United States of America.
Explore the full story for a detailed illustrated look at how small, local, citizen-ran newspapers, pamphlets, and other printed media brought news of independence to the populace throughout the road to revolution, building unity against the Crown that ultimately led to the Declaration of Independence itself.
COUNCIL QUIETLY REQUIRES INFO FROM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY & TAX BOARD
This story was originally published on July 5, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The city council has very quietly managed to pass a resolution requiring the disclosure of certain information from the Development Authority and the Board of Tax Assessors.
The resolution was passed during the council meeting on June 27, immediately following the passing of the city’s new fiscal budget — which included a reduction in the property tax millage rate after weeks of outcry from local property owners.
Nine of all ten city councilors voted in favor of the resolution. City Councilor Tyson Begly (District 10) gave a lone vote of no in disapproval of the ordinance.
The resolution mandates that the Development Authority and the Board of Tax Assessors must now provide city council with the following:
Given the timing of the resolution’s adoption which immediately followed great debate regarding taxation and the city’s budget — along with the obvious nature of the resolution’s content — it seems to suggest that the Development Authority and the Board of tax Assessors have not been previously disclosing information that council quite obviously deems should have been.
The additional requirement of mandated updates every 120 days also makes plain council’s intent for keeping the two entities on a tighter leash than they have been in the past.
When viewed holistically and combined with the Council’s tight-lipped approach in passing the resolution, it appears to heavily suggest the presence of possible malfeasance by the entities by purposefully hiding information from city council — specifically, as stated in the resolution, through the approval of tax abatements and incentives for the Development Authority by the Board of Tax Assessors.
Explore the full story for the details and see the resolution’s full text for yourself.
COLUMBUS SUFFERED 27 HOMICIDES IN FIRST HALF OF YEAR; 4.5X NAT’L AVG
This story was originally published on July 6, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Fountain City suffered a total of 27 homicides throughout the first half of 2023.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and AH Datalytics via Bloomberg, the 2022 U.S. homicide rate decreased slightly to 6.45 homicides per hundred-thousand residents per year — meaning that for half a year, the national average is a little over 3 homicides per hundred-thousand residents.
With a population of 205,617 people, Columbus’ total of 27 homicides within the first six months of the year leaves the city 4.5 times deadlier than the rest of the country.
We’ve compiled the saddening list of our city’s homicides from January 1 through June 30, 2023 into a data visualization below. We’ve also included reference lines for both the annual and six-month national averages.
Explore the full story to see the data visualized, along with a list of each homicide our city endured in the first half of 2023.
COLUMBUS E. COLI LEVELS APPEAR SUPPRESSED; CLUELESS LOCALS SWIM IN POOP WATER
This story was originally published on July 7, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Local waterways feeding the downtown section of the Chattahoochee River have consistently shown dangerously high levels of E. Coli bacteria, though locals are left clueless as they continue to play in the poop-filled water.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the presence of E. Coli in surface water like the Chattahoochee provides direct evidence of fecal contamination.
The Chattahoochee River Keeper, or CRK for short, is a non-profit that measures contamination levels throughout the Chattahoochee River Basin. According to CRK’s most recently-published data, areas like Flat Rock Park and Phenix City’s Mill Creek have E. Coli levels more than ten times the EPA’s safe limit for recreational activity.
According to EPA regulations, the presence of 235 cfu/100mL of E. Coli legally mandates the shutting of waters from public recreational use until safer levels are reached. However, the EPA recommends a much lower level be maintained of just 126 cfu/100mL of water.
Explore the full story to see how locals are left clueless to play in poop filled water, along with how Columbus Water Works fought for it to continue.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP KEEP OUR RIVER CLEAN BY SUPPORTING THE CRC
This story was originally published on July 8, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Chattahoochee River Conservancy released data showing the continued E. Coli contamination of Phenix City’s Mill Creek where it flows into the downtown section of the river.
The CRC’s reported measurement showed an E. Coli contamination of 1986.3 cfu/100mL of water, which is 8.45 times the EPA's maximum safety level. It is also 19.87 times the EPA’s recommended reading of 100 cfu/100mL for recreational use of a waterway.
According to members of CRC and several of our readers with intricate knowledge on the subject, the City of Phenix City has been aware of the continuous contamination from Mill Creek for months, but has been “unable to determine the cause” of the pathogen’s presence — which is scientifically used as a primary indicator of fecal matter.
Throughout the whole ordeal, workers of the CRC have been busting their tails to expend their extremely-limited resources to stay on top of the problem’s monitoring.
Each week throughout the summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the CRC collects water samples from 17 different locations around the river’s downtown area to test for E. Coli. The CRC is the only organization actively doing the work to bring that important data to light for our community.
Though most of the river in our area is mostly clean most of the time, there are instances of serious flare-ups that can cause serious illness to people and pets. CRC, with its small budget and resources, ventures into it anyway to measure it for you.
When levels get as high as CRC’s July 7 report of 1986 cfu/100mL at Mill Creek, it’s too dangerous to get in the water there given the heightened risk of infection from the poop-centric bacteria. Without CRC’s data, no one would ever know until after people got sick.
The CRC’s website has the following to say about why they do it:
“We believe riverfront communities and their waters are mirrors to each other. The health of one is a direct reflection of the health of the other. By improving water quality, protecting native species, and protecting our environmental progress, we are improving the quality of life and economic progress of our communities as well.”
To help CRC continue its monitoring of our watershed’s E. Coli levels, there are a few things you can do. Here’s a look at some options. Explore the full story to see how you can help CRC keep our river clean.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Columbus City Council is scheduled to meet this week on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. on the second floor of the C. E. “Red” McDaniel City Services Center located at 3111 Citizens Way, Columbus, GA 31906.
There are several items readers may find of interest, including matters pertaining to the Liberty Theatre, indigent care, and the Hospital Authority of Columbus. The meeting is also scheduled to include several presentations, including the new City Hall building.
You can easily view the entire agenda packet and its hyperlinked attachments here.
The Board of Tax Assessors is also scheduled to meet on Monday, July 10, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. on the second floor of the City Services Center in the Tax Assessor’s Office. It will be the first meeting of the Board after losing its court appeal on June 28, where the Board sought to charge property tax to Spring Harbor despite a court ruling already declaring it a public building and exempt from taxation.
A Look At Personal Safety
As the Columbus Police Department continues to unify under its new leadership model, violent crime is still likely to exist at higher levels than we would all like — even in what have previously been thought of as the “safer parts” of our city.
We at the Muckraker want to encourage our readers and their loved ones to remain hyper-vigilant as they go about their daily lives.
Based on lifetimes of experience and the combined professional careers of us at the Muckraker and our associates, here are what we consider to be the most important ways Columbusites can make themselves “hard targets” to avoid becoming a crime victim:
Back Our Blue
In closing, we at the Muckraker would like to thank the outstanding men and women of the Columbus Police Department who continue to shell out for the safety and well-being of our city each and every day, despite the abhorrent temporary conditions they are currently forced to work within.
“All police officers are entitled to outstanding leadership.”
Our city cannot thank you enough for what you do for us.
If you’re out and about throughout the week and see one of our city’s brave and valiant police officers, be sure to thank them. We’d bet it would mean an awful lot to them.
Residents are strongly encouraged to express their concerns and condolences for the brave men and women of the Columbus Police Department by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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