ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - This approval came from a five-to-one vote, with Mayor Bo Dorough voting against the budget’s approval.

Ward 1 Commissioner Jon Howard and Ward 6 Commissioner Diana Brown supported the approval, but stated that they wanted to see money within that budget being utilized to assist senior citizens who struggle to pay their monthly utilities.

“I’m going to approve the budget, but I want to see this in the budget. I’m going to consistently fight for high utilities, period. I see the struggles, and we need to go back and revamp the resources because the resources we were given are inaccurate. We need to put better resources in place,” said Commissioner Brown.

“If we could adopt what Georgia Power does for the senior citizens, it will not solve all the problems, but for these old ladies who can’t get food stamps, it would be in the best interest of the city,” Commissioner Howard said.

The city’s utility board is actively researching to consider a senior citizen utility discount, but the city manager says they’re at a standstill retrieving the data they need to accurately issue that rebate.

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