By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Many times over the past 15+ years we have written about the fact that Mayor Ronnie Marks is one of the few people on the planet that actually gets blessed by budgets. It is something I doubt I will ever understand, but every Ronnie that comes out close to October 1 has at least a portion of the column dedicated to the City of Athens budget as well as the process. On Monday night, the city council finalized the budget for the next year, and, as Mayor Ronnie said as he prepared for the meeting, “We are in very good financial shape.” As far as some of the numbers are concerned, the budget for this year is 62 million dollars, and 42% of that comes from sales tax.
Mayor Ronnie mentioned further that he is “proud to work with Finance and the City Council” to bring about what he called a “conservative budget,” and also noted that by law it must be balanced. He chuckled when he said that in Alabama every budget at the state and local level must be balanced, and said, “It’s only those guys in D.C.” who try to do otherwise. There has been a concerted effort on the part of the City, County, Chamber of Commerce, and the private sector to shop local and keep tax dollars here, and it is working.
Further, 19 of the 62 million dollars has been allotted for public safety, and that will need to increase as our population increases. Another thing that has worked well in the last year has been to assign city council members to work in pairs with our various utilities department heads to function and serve as liaisons, and that is going to continue on into 2027. Another thing that the mayor has to do on an annual basis is examine how different approaches to management in departments are working. “Sometimes we have to trim org charts, and I never like that,” he said.
We celebrated the coming of Fiddlers’ on Friday and Storytelling soon. Such a good way to kick off fall! On Tuesday the mayor finished off the selection for students for the Mayor’s Youth Commission for the 2026-2027 school year. Thursday was the groundbreaking for the new Hobby Lobby store. On a more whimsical note, Wes Isom, of Isom’s Orchard, always has a scarecrow contest, and this year Holly Hollman made a Dolly Parton-Crow scarecrow in honor of the late Dolly Parton.
We moved on to the topic of our next book. Over the years we have read several books on numbers of topics that almost always come back somehow or way to leadership. John Maxwell is the undisputed 21st century master who has not slowed down even with being in his late 70s. John continues to pour his wisdom and experience out all over the globe. His book, High Road Leadership: Bringing People Together In A World That Divides, is going to be our next. We had prayed this time at the beginning of our time together, and so now it was time for Ronnie to roll.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
