Auburn City Council approves budget, postpones decision on Red Cross

The Auburn City Council approved how it will spend citizens’ tax dollars for the next two years when they approved the biennial budget at Wednesday night’s meeting.

However, the decision whether to commit money to the local Red Cross chapter will be settled at a later meeting.

The Lee County chapter of the Red Cross had requested the city commit funds to them in the city budget, and council members previously said city policy prevented them from giving money to an organization except if that organization provided services the city would otherwise provide.

Councilman Dick Phelan said after watching the response to Hurricane Gustav, he believed the Red Cross fit that description and was in favor of setting aside $10,000 for each of the next two years to aid the agency in disaster relief efforts.

Councilman Bob Norman said he disagreed, that it was up to individuals and other organizations to donate funds to the Red Cross.

Red Cross representative Beth Whitten said the local chapter received little or no funds from the national level and relied heavily on local funds, which were currently being spent on sheltering Gustav evacuees.

The council agreed to pass the two-year budget and amend the budget at a later date to address the Red Cross’ request.

Donahue Ridge

The council also tabled whether to annex the Donahue Ridge development, represented by developer Tom Hayley, off North Donahue Drive. Councilwoman Sheila Eckman said if the city annexed the 13.6 acres, they would not have control of what development happened around the subdivision.

“A liquor store or a tattoo parlor” could locate next to the residential development, and the city could do nothing about it, she said.

Mayor Bill Ham said that would also be true if the city did not annex the development.

Since the annexation was an ordinance, it needed consent from all council members to move forward on a vote. Eckman denied unanimous consent, so the annexation, along with zoning and development agreement requests that come with it, will be discussed at the next council meeting, Sept. 16.

Attendance

All council members were in attendance.