COVINGTON, Ga. — One commissioner asked those who alleged the county's governing body was "hiding" something during the budget process to address their concerns with their district board member rather than creating "drama" with public comments.

District 2 County Commissioner Demond Mason suggested residents upset with how the budget process is progressing should speak to their commissioner who is their elected "voice" so the official can bring those concerns to the board.

"I don't think this particular board wants to hide anything," Mason said.

Mason made his comments after two residents asked why the commission was not taking more time to comb through the budget "line by line" to find ways to cut.

The board is working to consider what should be retained out of $82 million in requests from county departments and constitutional officers.

County Manager Lloyd Kerr, meanwhile, has said he wanted the board to consider giving a 4.5% pay increase to county employees to keep Newton County competitive with neighboring counties for employees.

Finance officials also have said they recommended cutting $3 million from the budget requests and still must wait for the county tax digest to be released to see how much revenue will be available.

Alicia Brown asked what was the "big deal" about commissioners taking more time to closely look at the budget.

"What's the rush? What are you scared of? We're claiming to be transparent. I just don't see that," she said.

"What is the resistance that we're getting that we can't do the budget line by line? What's the problem? What have you got to hide — that's what we automatically think. Wouldn't you think that? Flip the script."

"If it takes a week, two weeks, we are worth that" Brown said.

Susan Jackson said she believed "every line of that budget needs to be looked at" and said the board needed to cut 20%.

She asked why commissioners needed a travel budget "in the midst of a pandemic" and said any professional training could be done remotely.

She also said the Juvenile Court judge was able to cut her budget.

"What she reminded me of and sort of symbolized was a single mother like myself in the midst of a pandemic, know that she had to cut a budget."

She also disagreed with the Animal Services department's need for a new surgical room in its Lower River Road facility. Officials said the room is needed for spay and neuter services to keep the stray dog and cat populations under control.

"As a board of commissioners, you need to take a look at that budget, line upon line. Cut everything that you can because that's what we're doing as citizens in the midst of a pandemic."

District 3 Commissioner Alana Sanders said she was "really in favor of doing the line by line."

"It's a huge responsibility. That's a lot of money that we're managing. That line by line is going to help us be error-free," Sanders said.

But Mason said he went "line by line" with department heads during budget hearings the previous week.

He also said individual board members were familiar with the budget and had gone "line by line" as well.

"I don't want the board to get into a big debacle," he said.

He said he wanted constituents to address their concerns about the budget with the commissioner for their district.

"Drama? No," he said. "Don't get into drama. Don't get into negativity. Don't start a whole bunch of drama.

"Let's be positive. We say we want to be positive," Mason said. "Let's make positive impact. Let's not look at the negative all the time.

"There are so many things to be positive about," he said.

District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards said his constituents "trust me" to closely look at the budget.