ALBANY — Bucking Albany City Manager James Taylor’s budget recommendations, the Albany City Commission voted 4-3 Tuesday at a work session to supplement both the Flint RiverQuarium’s and the Albany Civil Rights Institute’s operating expenses with a total of $300,000 in funding.
Noting the “$250,000 to $300,000 in donations and in-kind services” generated by the RiverQuarium through its fundraising initiative, Director Tommy Gregors asked the commission for $200,000 so that the aquarium could offset its expenses and continue to generate interest among corporate and individual donors.
Ward VI Commissioner Tommie Postell made the initial motion to allocate the funding.
“I’ll say I was against this funding in the past, but we don’t need to let the RiverQuarium go,” said Postell, who then asked what amount the city had given to the Civil Rights Institute last year. Told that amount was $50,000, Postell said, “I also move that we increase the amount we give the Civil Rights Institute to $100,000.”
Postell’s motion was challenged by Ward V’s Bob Langstaff and Ward III’s B.J. Fletcher, who, along with Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard, voted against the funding.
“We will have to take $1.979 million out of our reserves to balance the budget as presented,” Langstaff said. “I don’t know how we expect to keep doing this. We’re heading toward leaving a legacy of desperation, because the MEAG (Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia) money (in deregulation credits) will be gone in 2018.
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