JONESBORO, Ga. — The Jonesboro City Council has unanimously voted to formally censure Mayor Donya Sartor after a review found spending on city-sponsored events exceeded council-approved budget limits by more than $27,000.
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The vote came during a city council meeting Monday night, marking a rare unanimous reprimand of the city’s top elected official.
Council members said the action was necessary to ensure accountability for city dollars after reviewing spending tied to city events, including Jonesboro’s annual Juneteenth celebration.
According to city records, the council approved a $25,000 budget for the city’s third annual Juneteenth event. Records reviewed by Channel 2 Action News show expenses exceeded that amount and included more than $22,000 to bring hip-hop group Goodie Mob to perform, another $15,000 for a gospel band, about $3,000 for a flyover and $2,000 for a drone display.
“When I saw these numbers, of course, I immediately had concern,” Councilwoman Santia Fox told Channel 2 Action News.
Fox said council members first became aware of the overspending after noticing the city’s events budget line item had fallen thousands of dollars into the negative.
City records also show that for the city’s Fourth of July event, some vendors were paid before being presented to the city council for approval. City records further indicate the city attorney did not review several contracts connected to the events.
Fox said council members were not opposed to hosting large community celebrations but were concerned about the process used to authorize spending.
“We could have worked together to find the money somewhere else in the budget to bring this to life,” she said.
In a statement to Channel 2 Action News, Sartor defended her actions, saying the dispute is not about financial mismanagement but rather a disagreement over how the city accounts for privately donated funds. The mayor said her office secured thousands of dollars in private sponsorships to help fund the events.
Sartor declined Channel 2’s request for an on-camera interview Tuesday but acknowledged communication issues in her statement. She said the city will review its procedures for accepting and spending private donations to prevent similar disputes in the future. Sartor told Channel 2 her office raised $40,000 from private partners and sponsors.
“For the July 4th and Juneteenth celebrations, my administration worked aggressively to secure private sponsorships so Jonesboro residents would not have to shoulder the entire cost of these events. More than $40,000 was raised by my Office through private partnerships and sponsorships specifically to support these celebrations. Because those restricted funds were received and deposited through the city treasury, a disagreement arose over whether the City Council’s original spending authorization continued to serve as a ceiling even after additional private sponsorship dollars became available,” Sartor wrote.
Sartor acknowledged communication issues with City Council and an issue with the City Attorney reviewing contracts. Sartor says she believes all the expenditures in question were for legitimate public purposes and followed the city’s established finance, procurement and administrative procedures.
This is at least the second time the mayor has been accused of misspending. The mayor was accused of bypassing council by routing over $50,000 through the Downtown Development Authority for last year’s Juneteenth Celebration.
MAYOR’S FULL STATEMENT:
What this episode has exposed is not financial mismanagement; it’s the need for a better procedure by which the City
receives, processes and administers privately donated and restricted funds for specific purposes.
For the July 4th and Juneteenth celebrations, my administration worked aggressively to secure private sponsorships so
Jonesboro residents would not have to shoulder the entire cost of these events. More than $40,000 was raised by my Office
through private partnerships and sponsorships specifically to support these celebrations. Because those restricted funds
were received and deposited through the city treasury, a disagreement arose over whether the City Council’s original
spending authorization continued to serve as a ceiling even after additional private sponsorship dollars became available.
There are four important points I want the public to understand:
1. Private sponsorships reduced the burden on taxpayers. My administration raised more than $40,000 from
private partners and sponsors to help pay for these community celebrations. The purpose was simple: provide
quality events for Jonesboro residents while offsetting the amount that citizens otherwise would have had to fund
through city revenues.
2. Individual expenditures below the applicable administrative threshold were handled pursuant to the
spending authority provided under city policy. Expenses of less than $10,000 did not individually require City
Council approval or separate notification to the council under the administrative spending authority granted to the
city manager and department heads who report to me as mayor. The disagreement that developed concerns the
council’s previously established aggregate event limits and how those limits applied once additional restricted
sponsorship funds were received.
3. We will correct the contract-review issue. As for the minor contracts that lacked the city attorney approving their
format, going forward we will improve our internal communications so this flaw does not happen again. .
4. Transparency remains a priority of my administration. Throughout my tenure, I have supported open and
transparent government. To make certain this situation is not repeated, I am directing a review of the city’s
procedures for accepting, depositing, budgeting and expending private sponsorship and partnership funds that are
donated for restricted purposes. That review should result in clear best practices so the mayor, council, staff,
sponsors and public all understand how these funds will be treated in the future.
My position remains that the expenditures made by the Mayor’s Office were undertaken pursuant to the city’s established
finance, procurement and administrative procedures and for legitimate public purposes. The dispute that developed was
principally over communication with the City Council and the application of council-imposed event spending limits after
additional restricted private funds were raised.
The structure of our city government sometimes creates an awkward intersection between the administrative responsibilities
of the Mayor’s Office and the City Council’s legislative and budgetary authority. Under that structure, the mayor is
responsible for administering city funds and expenditures, including appropriations connected to events and activities
supported by members of the council. That makes clear communication between all of us essential.
I accept the will of the council, and I appreciate that even through adoption of this measure there is recognition that we must
work more closely together to prevent another situation like this one.
This matter is now behind us. Jonesboro has a tremendous future ahead, and that is where my attention will remain. The
mayor and council must move forward together — focused on serving our residents, strengthening our city and building
Jonesboro’s future rather than governing through the rear-view mirror.
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