In a rare turn of events, the Habersham County Commission adjourned Monday night without coming to a consensus on the FY 2025 budget. After nearly two and a half hours of discussion, Commission Chairman Ty Akins adjourned the meeting.
“I’m going to make a motion to adjourn. If I’m not mistaken, just the simple act of a motion to adjourn is enough to adjourn the meeting,” Akins said.
Commissioner Bruce Harkness asked Akins if he was going to consider a recommendation from Chief Financial Officer Tim Sims. Akins replied, “No, it’s a motion to adjourn and I think I can just walk out right now. I’ve asked Donnie that several times. It’s a motion to adjourn, is an adjournment.”
Akins addressed the audience. “Thank you for everybody’s time tonight, unfortunately, this wasn’t productive but not surprising.”
With that, Akins gathered his things and walked out.
Some of the frustration was due to the commissioners not being able to come to a consensus on pay increases for the employees. Another frustration was due to adding positions and capital improvements to the budget, all the while, having the ability to also provide a millage rate rollback for property taxpayers.
The Commissioners will have to set another meeting to have another public hearing and approve the FY 2025 budget. However, it will be after the new fiscal year begins. To provide for another public hearing and to adopt the budget, the commission will have to advertise the meeting date and time at least seven days prior. They will also have to approve a spending resolution since there will not be a new budget in place on July 1.
After the meeting, Akins was asked why the adjournment? “I believe we had reached a point where we could no longer move forward in a productive way,” he replied.
