In the weeds: Can Augusta tackle its perennial problem with maintenance?
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Every year, the questions come up:
- Who is cutting the grass on Augusta’s city-owned land?
- Who is responsible for maintaining vacant lots?
- Who do I call to cut down on the overgrowth in the medians, alleyways and rights-of-way?
These are questions leaders address every year, but what’s changed?
All the Augusta Commission and Mayor Garnett Johnson say overgrowth and maintenance are the top complaints they get from residents, with calls coming in every day.
The city is trying to improve how it manages grass cutting, landscaping, tree care and the general maintenance of public grounds; Augusta’s nickname is “The Garden City,” a name promising beauty.
Ezra Dixon knows how to keep a garden healthy, and he wants to lead by example.
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“Picking up trash on my own time and putting it in a place where it can be collected and discarded as properly as possible, it helps the city beautify the city,” said Dixon, lives near Windsor Spring Road.
But city leaders are thinking about consolidating these efforts in a new department focused on grounds and vegetation maintenance.
" I believe in what we are taught to believe in, that everybody should do their part, have their own ability, not wait for someone to tell you what should be done when it’s glaring you in the face,” said Ezra Dixon, lives near Windsor Spring Road.
However, there’s a growing problem that’s hard to ignore.
“You can walk downtown and see vacant lots. Just like any city official can, any citizen can, any official, any citizen has the obligation to call the right authorities to say, ‘Why isn’t this lot clean, and when can I expect it clean,’” said Dixon.
He’s not the only one asking questions.
“I just know when I walk to the store, just right here on Crawford Avenue. It is overgrown. Like when you go up the street, you’ll see it on the left side. You got a vacant lot, it’s overgrown. Sidewalks are uneven. I mean, you just got to ride around, you’ll see it. It’s like, what, ‘where the money going,?’” said Jefferson.
Jefferson takes pride in his neighborhood.
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“Well yeah, that’s where most of my money goes. You know what I’m saying,” said Jefferson.
He wants the same attention put into the city he calls home.
“They gotta say what they mean and enforce it,” said Jefferson.
“If nothing’s enforced, if you don’t come out with the standard for the city, then the bar is wherever people put it,” said Jefferson.
William doesn’t care what it takes, as long as the job gets done.
“They’ve got to say what they mean and enforce it,” he said.
Right now, several departments share this responsibility: Central Services, Parks and Recreation, and Engineering Services.
Even the mayor says what’s currently in place is not working:
" You ride down Broad, Telfair streets, look at your medians. You look at the ditches and the retention ponds behind your house, and you tell me what we’ve been doing is working. It is not working.”
The plan is just a draft.
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Leaders have agreed to forward with the draft and will come back with a finalized plan in the months to come as part of the 2026 budget conversations.
What should city’s priorities be?
The budget survey is out for Augusta residents to complete so they can weigh on what the city’s priorities should be.
You can offer your views at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AugBudget2026.
We requested the results from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 budget surveys to see if the city is actually listening to suggestions from the public.
Here are some suggestions from 2025 that stood out:
- Maintenance of existing facilities and infrastructure (several suggestions related to this).
- Urban decay, trash and litter on the roads (several suggestions related to this).
- The city needs an arborist and a more robust tree ordinance that specifically requires rotating landscape plans and includes a variety of vegetation standards.
- Doing something about grass, overgrown trees and water drains, including in the Peach Orchard Road area.
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