The Danielsville City Council passed its 2009 budget 3-1 Monday night, which includes a 5.8-percent increase for city employees. Councilwoman Junne Temple provided the “no” vote.
Council members, with the exception of Temple and Janice Merk, who both declined an increase, will also receive a five-percent raise in their salaries for 2009.
“I am but one voice,” Temple said before the budget vote. “I just feel that to be fiscally responsible, we need to scale back some.”
City clerk Connie Riley pointed out that any funds from council members who declined their increase will go back into the city’s contingency fund, which currently stands at $14,664, according to the budget printout.
City attorney Victor Johnson said Tuesday that the sitting council in 1998 voted that future councils could receive a five-percent increase in their salaries annually. The rule took effect following the next elections in 2000.
According to Georgia law, city councils cannot vote to increase their own salary, but they can vote an increase for future council members. However, since the 1998 council voted to allow annual five-percent raises, current council members are eligible to receive that increase.
Johnson reminded the council Monday night that the budget is a fiscal guideline that they can vote to adjust as needed throughout the year.
In a separate matter, councilwoman Barbara Dove announced that she plans to resign from her council seat, though she has yet to set an exact date for her resignation. Mayor Glenn Cross reminded her that she would need to submit a written letter of resignation.
Johnson said Tuesday that a special election will be held on the third Tuesday in March to fill the term of resigning councilman Roger Watson. Qualifying for the position will be held in January or February, Johnson said.
Dove’s seat, however, can be appointed by the council, since she will have served more than 12 months of her two-year term by waiting to resign in 2009, Johnson said. But if she resigns before the special election to replace Watson, there will be only two council members left, along with the mayor, who votes only to break a tie. This would leave the council without a quorum and unable to take action on city business, including appointing a replacement for Dove until after the special election, Johnson noted.
In other business, the council voted to postpone a decision on the size and cost of a proposed sewer line extension to the Griffith House (future home of Madison Animal Hospital) and a vacant lot adjacent to the Golden Pantry on Hwy. 29 South until their regular business meeting next Monday night. An easement for the extension will also be needed.