MEIGS — According to one resident, a $500,000 proposed budget is threatening to sink the City of Meigs.

Andrew Wurst said the “extravagant” budget places too much of a burden on city taxpayers. He also takes issue with the current city council making decisions about the city’s financial future.

“We’re in a grave situation in Meigs. We do not have an elected mayor, and two councilmen who have resigned,” Wurst said. “No date for an election has been set. No appointments have been made.”

In October, Meigs Mayor Harold Cook resigned, followed by council members D.W. Bell and Cheryl Kicklighter-Hall. The council is now comprised of Mayor Pro-Tem Annie Doris Lovejoy, Ralph Nixon, June B. Layton and Levon Gassett.

Meigs City Clerk Debrah G. Smith said an election to replace the resigned council members and mayor has been discussed but no date has been set. The election will likely take place in February.

Current council members are expected to take action on the proposed budget Thursday, Dec. 28. at 6 p.m.

General fund expenditures in the proposed budget total $505,400 — the exact amount of revenue the city expects to draw to fund the budget. The proposed budget is $33,175 more than the city’s 2006 budget of $472,225.

Some 71 percent of the revenue to fund the budget — $358,425 — is expected to come from local taxes. Almost 14 percent of the revenues — $70,000 — will come from charges for services according to the proposed budget.

More than 42 percent of the city’s budget will go to the Meigs Police Department. That department lists expenditures of $216,100 in the proposed budget. General government is slated to spend $187,650 — about 37 percent of the expenditures.

The sanitation department will receive $55,100; streets and sidewalks will receive $46,225, and the recreation department will get $325 according to the proposed budget.

Wurst said the proposed budget is another example of the city’s financial irresponsibility. Earlier this year, it was discovered that city officials authorized transfers of funds from a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) into general government accounts, which is not allowed by Georgia law.

“The general public does not have access to immediate information on where the city stands. The closest I can come to an official financial report of the city is December 31, 2004,” Wurst said.

According to records Wurst obtained from the Georgia Department of Revenue, the City of Meigs went over budget for at least four years in a row. Beginning in 2001, the city was $85,743 over budget at the end of the year; $97,567 over in 2002; $204,899 over in 2003; and $266,541 over in 2004.

Wurst said budget records that would show debt for 2005 and 2006 were not available.

“The public doesn’t know where we stand. I don’t know if the mayor and council know where we stand or not, based on the extravagant budget they’re proposing,” he said.