There is little doubt that East Point pays the highest salaries for the City Manager and the other Department Heads than any metro government of our size. I requested their salaries for the FY 20 Budget adopted by Mayor and Council and I was thunderstruck. As I went through the Budget, I discovered that the “Indirect Cost” (GA State budget legislation defines indirect cost to be for services provided by employees in one fund for another fund.) for the Electric Utility and the Water and Sewer Utility had increased to over $4 million each. According to the FY 20 Budget, there are 34 full-time employees in the Electric Utility and 58 full-time employees in the Water and Sewer Utility. Neither Utility has any part-time employees. What services are employees in the General Fund perform for either of these Utilities for $4 million each?
Former City Manager Crandall O. Jones pulled this same stunt back in 2011; and the residents filed a lawsuit and I along with other residents campaigned to elect new Council Members who would vote to change things. WE DID! When I asked for the formula/data used to calculate the “Indirect Cost”, CM Calloway stated that a firm was used to make the calculations. So, I requested the formula and I received a 146 page package detailing how the Maximus Group determined cost allocations for the Federal Awards. There is no way that the Electric Utility and the Water and Sewer Utility can be called “Federal Awards”. The City is again overcharging these two Utilities to pay for things in the General Fund under the guise of “Indirect Cost”. Mayor and Council need to vote to fund the Residential Referendum Projects (See Newsletter.) initiative ASAP. See the salaries and indirect cost documents below.
Click Here: FY20 Budget Salary open record request
Click Here: Maximus Cost Allocation Plan
Click Here: No. of City Employees
Residents, it is past time that you begin to hold Mayor and Council accountable and demand that they address your concerns with code home improvements; assistance with increased property taxes in areas hard hit by gentrification; and reinstating the 2012 Electric Utility Rate Ordinance.
