COVINGTON, Ga. — A special meeting of the Covington City Council has been called for Monday, June 13, to potentially approve the fiscal year 2023 budget.

According to the proposed spending plan, the city government would have an overall budget of $157.4 million — an increase of more than $15 million from the previous year’s budget and an increase of more than $29 million over the last two years.

Estimated revenues for the new year are expected to total $158,191,188, while expenditures will total $157,416,464. Approximately $772,353 would be left earmarked for the General Fund Contingency.

For FY2022, the budget was initially $142 million, and $128 million for FY2021.

The FY2022 budget has since been amended through the year and currently totals $144,369,546. Compared to the proposed FY2023 budget, that’s just more than a $13 million increase from the previous year.

“The majority of this increase relates to increased power costs for electricity and natural gas amounting to approximately $9.7 million,” Assistant Finance Director Ashlan Troutman Webb said. “We have also established a telecommunications fund totaling $2.2 million.” 

Webb said the city anticipates an increase in medical insurance costs of $500,000 and in hotel/motel tax of $450,000. The remaining difference is inflationary, she said.

If approved, the police department would operate with an increased budget of $9.5 million for fiscal year 2023, and the fire department would operate on a $6.6 million budget — increases for both departments from the previous year. The street department’s new budget would be $2.2 million.

Other notable expense totals by department:

• Planning & Zoning: $1.5 million

• Engineering: $1.4 million

• Marketing/Communications: $1.1 million  

• Administration: $1 million

• Human Resources: $972,414

• Elected Officials: $582,303

• City Manager’s Office: $578,858

Per budget documents, the city anticipates approximately $5.4 million in general property tax revenue and $1.5 million in motor vehicle ad valorem tax revenue. Local option sales tax revenues were estimated to be $3.5 million. The city also anticipated collecting just more than $1 million in insurance premium taxes revenue.