{"id":214333,"date":"2026-06-09T07:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/214333\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T07:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:00:17","slug":"grovetown-city-council-votes-on-second-budget-reading-rate-adjustments-annexations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/214333\/","title":{"rendered":"Grovetown City Council votes on second budget reading, rate adjustments, annexations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Grovetown City Council, during its regular monthly meeting Monday night, voted unanimously to approve the second reading of its proposed budget for the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Finance director Bradley Smith let councilmembers and Mayor Pro Tem Eric Blair know that the project budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27 is unchanged from the most recent budget presentation on May 6. However, the evening\u2019s agenda included requests from city administration to approve three adjustments to fee schedules for services provided by the city and one reduction in service for bulk trash pickup.<\/p>\n

Smith, who also serves as the city\u2019s assistant administrator, told the council that the city is seeking to increase garbage fee by $3 for all residential senior and multi-can pickups. This would bring rates for residential cans up to $23.50 per month, senior residential cans to move up to $8 a month and civic church cans and recycling cans from $10.50 to $13.50 a month.<\/p>\n

The rise in rates is based off consumer price index increases on the city\u2019s waste management contract over the past five years, Smith explained, though Grovetown has not increased its garbage pickup rates since 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been something that we\u2019ve been pushing off, pushing off, and trying our best to keep it at this rate,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe feel strongly that this $3 increase will allow us to continue to provide the services that we currently provide for the residential garbage pickup at the current schedule for your once a week pick up for all those who have garbage cans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith also told the council that though the new rate would be effective on July 1, as the fiscal year ends on July 15, residents would not see the change reflected on their bill until the first week of August to avoid a rate change before the completion of a full billing cycle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOne, it\u2019s just easier for our billing ladies up front not to do one in the middle of a cycle, but two, it just makes it clear it\u2019s a clean change from one billing cycle to the next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two other requests, to increase the stormwater fee for detached residential homes from $4.95 to $5.95, and reduce the wastewater treatment fee by one dollar, to adjust to corresponding rates for commercial properties.<\/p>\n

The city has not increased its tap water fees since 2017, noted Smith, so the administration also requested to raise them to cover the costs that have increased over the years.<\/p>\n

The council voted unanimously in favor of all the city administration\u2019s requests.<\/p>\n

Later during the meeting the council would also vote to annex into the city limits, and rezone from the city\u2019s Residential Agricultural (R-A) zoning to Single-family Residential (R-C1) some 17 acres of unincorporated Columbia County land along Chamblin Road, to make way for a proposed subdivision of over 50 single-family lots.<\/p>\n

Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Devi was the city council\u2019s honoree for this month\u2019s Vietnam Veterans\u2019 recognition. Devi, a New York native, enlisted in the Navy in 1968 and was deployed to Vietnam the following year. He served two tours, the first aboard the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier, the second on the USS Ranger, a supercarrier. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with two Bronze Stars and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Devi moved to Grovetown in 2002, after 27 years as a police officer in Villa Park, Illinois. The devoted his recognition Monday evening to \u201call the veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering general reporting with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Grovetown City Council, during its regular monthly meeting Monday night, voted unanimously to approve the second reading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-214333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}