Tempers Flare As East Point Council Debates Budget: Some Councilmembers Fervently Push To Adopt What Appears To Be An Incomplete Budget Even As Residents Questions Remain

Monday night’s city council meeting turned into a testy affair as a bloc of city councilmembers, including Japera Hemming (Ward A At-Large), Eric Friedly (Ward A), Shean Atkins (Ward B-At Large) and Carrie Ziegler (Ward B) made vehement arguments in favor of passing a budget that has raised concerns from people across the city, especially since a number of questions remain regarding the proposed expenditures inside the budget.

Such is the uncertainty within the community that Councilman Tremayne Mitchell (Ward C) and Councilwoman Starr Cummings (Ward C-At Large) have called a community meeting to both take and answer questions from the community regarding the proposed budget. That meeting will take place on Thursday at 6 P.M. at St. Stephens Missionary Baptist Church, 2670 Hogan Road.

A number of community members have reached out to councilmembers and city officials to question city hall’s spending priorities, including salaries, car allowances, event spending and more.

There are also public concerns over proposed budget cuts.

But according to Councilwoman Ziegler, who strongly advocated for the budget’s passage, there has been enough input from residents.

“I don”t understand why we’re still sourcing…opinions…from residents and other constituents…that has passed”, declared Ziegler, who was adamant the budget needed to pass immediately.

“Umm that boat has sailed”, she said, with regard to public input. She also expressed dismay that councilmembers would delay passing the budget in order to address the worried concerns of the public.

While Georgia law directs municipalities to finalize their budgets by June 30, cities are not always able to comply by that date. Importantly, this is not the first time in its history that East Point did not submit a budget by June 30, a fact pointed out by members of the community and council who maintain that with so much uncertainty within the community, the council needed to postpone passing the budget until there is more time for community input and review.

Councilman Atkins made a lengthy, last-minute amendment to the budget that featured dozens of adjustments, mere moments before the four councilmembers who supported delaying the budget’s passage were expected to vote on it. That move didn’t sit well with Councilmembers Rogers, Mitchell, and Caldwell, who were perturbed by the submission and the timing of it since they would be expected to vote on adjustments with only a few minutes to review what was submitted.

And again, there are plenty of residents who still have questions and opinions regarding the budget, in particular a number of legacy residents within the city. Former Councilmembers Jackie Slaughter and Greg Fann appeared at a recent council meeting in addition to former mayor Ernestine Pittman to raise their own concerns about the budget. The three are all over the age of 80 and expressed opposition to some of the proposed expenditures, and discussed what it all could mean for the city’s finances and residents.

A couple of days later, an anonymous Robocall was distributed throughout the city urging residents to ignore the three, accusing them of setting the city back and sowing division by voicing concerns over the budget.

The Robocall went on to falsely accuse the writer of this story of creating flyers that supported the position of the three former elected officials–flyers that were distributed to members of the community via email.

The female voice on the robocall did not identify herself, nor did she announce any affiliation on the call.

The budget did not pass as a result of there not being a sufficient number of votes to pass it. Council will resume budget discussions at their next meeting.