After months of back and forth over wording in the agreement and a year of negotiating, the Baldwin City Council formally approved the animal control intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Habersham County during Monday’s council meeting.
The issue was the language used in how the county calculated the animal control costs to the city.
The wording in question has been debated since December when the county issued the IGA’s to the cities for animal control service. It outlined the formula used to compute the cost to the city. The wording the county originally had in the agreement is as follows. “City shall pay to County the sum of $18,455.58 reflecting the net value of actual cost less tax contribution from the 2023 Tax Digest.”
According to Chief Administrative Officer Emily Woodmaster, that wording was not correct. It did not reflect the true formula the county was using to calculate the cost to the cities. She explains to the council that the county has agreed to change the language in how the county computes the animal control costs.
Wording change
The county resubmitted the IGA to the city with the wording change. “City shall pay to County the sum of $18,455.58 reflecting the net value of actual cost less the gross digest percentage from the 2023 Tax Digest.”
Woodmaster stated, “So this is not what we agreed to a year ago. However, this is the accurate calculation they are going by today.”
“I’m really glad. That’s great news. I’m really glad we were able to work it out.” stated Councilmember Alice Venter.
Woodmaster explained to the council that since the cost was higher than what was discussed a year ago, the city would have to do a $1,800 increase for the service in the budget. She adds that the city would use fund balance to cover the increase.
The City Council approved the animal control IGA and the $1,800 increase to come from fund balance unanimously.
