Times Editor
With half of the year gone, Thomaston's financial position is strong - only 41 percent of the budget expenditures have been spent.
City Clerk Dennis Truitt said this week the city's department heads deserve praise for keeping spending in line. Police, fire, public works and administration have all spent less than 45 percent of budgeted expenditures. In addition, the city's water, sewer and electric departments are also significantly below spending predictions.
Truitt presented a mid-year spending review to Thomaston City Council at the July 15 meeting.
The mid-year report shows the city's legal spending was slightly more than 50 percent of the budget at mid-year, however that amount is substantially lower than in the last decade. Legal spending at the end of June was $26,235 - not including $27,354 spent on the city's dispute with WesTek over water bill issues, legal action which led to the city disconnecting the industry's water service for two days.
The city's 2003 budget for legal spending with the firm Adams, Barfield, Evans & Miller is $48,600 - a figure that is a fraction of the amount spent annually since 1993. A September 2002 study conducted by The Thomaston Times of more than 30 Georgia cities with similar populations showed Thomaston's legal fees were, conservatively, three times higher than other cities our size.
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