For cities with population over 2,500, the council-manager form of government is the most popular form of local government. Under this form, residents elect a governing body and chief elected official (i.e. mayor) to make policy for the city, and the governing body hires a professional city manager/administrator to oversee city operations and implement policy directives adopted by the council.
The City of Augusta has four departments: Administration, Public Safety, Community Development, and Public Utilities. The Administration Department contains the City Manager's Office, Finance, the City Clerk's Office, and the Municipal Court and is led by the City Manager. The Public Safety Department provides police and fire protection services and is led by the Director of Public Safety. The Community Development Department contains Planning & Zoning, Inspection & Codes, Streets, Solid Waste, Animal Control, and Parks and is led by the Director of Community Development/Assistant City Manager. The Public Utilities Department run the City's Water, Wastewater, and Electric utilities and is led by the Director of Public Utilities. All department directors report to the City Manager. View the City's full organizational chart here.
Each year, the City Council is tasked with approving a budget for City operations, which involves a number of tough decisions including whether to raise/low taxes, how to allocate resources, what City staff expenditure requests to approve/deny, and what the City's financial goals for the future should be. The City Manager creates a proposed budget after many meetings with Department leaders, but ultimately the decision rests with the elected officials who must balance a number of competing priorities. To learn more about the City's budget process and view the budget document for the current year, visit our page on the City Budget.
The City is continuously evaluating its own performance and making efforts to improve our ability to fulfill our mission, vision, and values of integrity, community pride, professionalism, and innovation. The Strategic Plan lays out the City's main objectives in the Goal Areas of Growth & Development, Technology, Attraction, Retention & Development, and Communication.
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