COVINGTON, Ga. — Newton commissioners heard a call Tuesday for defunding the county's operation of a historic home and event facility.
They also heard during a work session on the 2023 budget that the process of cutting the numerous funding requests in the proposed 2023 budget had begun in earnest.
District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson said he wanted Interim County Manager Jarvis Sims to place the question of not including any funding for the Gaither's at Myrtle Creek Farm event facility on a future agenda.
Gaither's is a county-operated historic house that dates to the 1850s and sits on 256 acres on Davis Ford Road in south Newton County .
Henderson for years has called for the county to stop operating Gaither's because of its history of original owners using Black slaves for farm work before the Civil War ended the practice.
The county government has owned the Gaither's site since 1996 after buying it as part of a larger tract for construction of Bear Creek Reservoir, which the county later abandoned.
Newton County has leased the facility for such events as weddings and as a movie set in recent years. It includes the main house built by William Gaither Sr. in 1855, a log smokehouse, and the Gaither Family Cemetery and a separate cemetery containing the bodies of slaves, according to information from the county government.
Henderson first said he wanted Sims to poll the Board of Commissioners about support for continued funding of the facility's operation.
"I would like to see none of that money spent (at) Gaither Plantation," said Henderson, who chaired the meeting in place of an ill Chairman Marcello Banes.
The county operates the facility from a fund that is separate from the remainder of the budget. Sims said the proposed 2023 budget already has been compiled and continues funding Gaither's.
Commissioners approved a $291,060 operating budget for the current year which was a 26% decrease from 2021.
Projected revenue is $291,330 this year, which is a 22% decrease from 2021 and 45% below the 2020 budget year which included about eight months before the pandemic began.
County Attorney Patrick Jaugstetter told Henderson commissioners could either vote to tell Sims to submit a new budget document without funding for Gaither's, or make a motion when considering final approval of the budget to set the amount at zero in the Gaither's Fund.
On the overall budget, Finance Director Brittany White told the Board the original 2023 budget requests from all county departments in late March totaled more than $96 million — around $18 million above the 2022 General Fund — but had been decreased to $87.2 million after moving all capital project requests into a separate fund.
The original capital requests for such items as vehicles totaled $8.5 million but White said they now total only $2 million.
Commissioners could ask that any of the capital improvement requests made in late March be returned to the spending plan, White said.
"That can be adjusted as we discuss the requested capital projects that are needed," she said.
However, White also said some factors that will affect the budget include a 12% employee health insurance premium increase of $720,000; a proposed 4%-4.5% step pay increase for employees that will cost $1.5 million; a proposed pension plan costing $3.5 million; and travel and training budget increases because of the resumption of in-person sessions following the pandemic.
