Former supporters scrutinize East Point mayor

And they have hundreds of copies of receipts from his city-issued credit card that they say show inappropriate charges for lavish meals and other perks at a time when the town cannot afford it.

The amounts of money involved are relatively small. But some believe Macon’s personal finances suggest he is not responsible enough to oversee the city’s money and he may have been a little free-spending with taxpayer dollars, said Isabel Jeffares and Katy Blevins.

“He ran as a reformer,” said Jeffares, who was Macon’s 2005 campaign treasurer.

Jeffares said Macon promised in his 2005 campaign careful and smart budgeting, “keeping report cards and holding people accountable. Those were all the catch phrases.”

Others who live in East Point have also found fault.

“It demonstrates a serious lack of judgment given the financial state that East Point has been in for many years and continues to be in,” resident Erik Friedly said of the documents Jeffares and Blevins have accumulated.

Macon’s second run for office has drawn three opponents. Jeffares and Blevins, who campaigned for Macon four years ago, are now working against him. They support City Council member Earnestine Pittman.

Threet Brown and Delana Morrissette also are running for mayor.

Politics is at the core of all this adversity, Macon and his supporters argue.

“I’m aware of some of the politics,” said East Point resident Kenneth DeLeon. “I don’t agree 100 percent with Mayor Macon and his positions but I feel there might be some people out there who have aligned themselves with the other candidate.”

Paula Towry, another Macon supporter, questioned Jeffares’ and Blevins’ motives.

“We’re talking about piddling amounts of money,” Towry said. “These are legitimate expenses. I’ve questioned him on all these myself. To me, there has been a legitimate answer to everything ... These amounts of money are ridiculous.”

All the same, it simply looks bad to use “taxpayer money for expenses that seem excessive, said Bill Bozarth, executive director of the good-government organization Common Cause Georgia.

“What he is doing isn’t necessarily against the law,” Bozarth said. “But he should be sensitive — especially if he came in as a reform mayor — to the appearance.”

Blevins and Jeffares believe Macon’s spending and his personal finances suggest he should not be running a city with a budget of almost $36.2 million plus another $60 million in utility payments and “special revenue” collections.

Like many cities and towns, East Point is struggling to pay its bills and to shrink its deficit. City services have been cut. East Point recently started charging out-of-towners for emergency services if they are responsible for accidents inside the city limits. The possibility of raising taxes was discussed.

The city’s finance director hopes the city will be in the black by December.

“When times are tough, you look to leadership to make changes and to show what needs to be done,” said Laura Borders, who lives in East Point’s Frog Hollow neighborhood. “In a corporation when you have to cut the budgets, you shut down the executive dining room and you cut down on travel. That’s not what’s happening here.”

According to records, between March 2007 and last July, the mayor’s charge card bills totaled more than $17,660.

The records show that during a 27-month period the mayor spent $1,500 for meals. More than $900 of that was charged for 11 meals at the Cobb County Brazilian steak restaurant Sal Grosso, which is near Macon’s office when he worked for Allstate.

Jeffares said she was upset by the restaurant bills because it was paid by taxpayers in a “city where one in five families are living below the poverty level." She also is upset that the lunches were at restaurants in other cities and were with East Point employees or business people “who did not bring anything to the city... There was no return on investment.”

Macon said he is the face of East Point and he doesn’t think it is improper to spend money on people might invest in East Point.

“If you’re doing business with people, do you take them there [to a nice restaurant] or do you take them to Fuddruckers,” Macon said.

He also charged meals at Shane’s Rib Shack and Los Bravos in Marietta and the Brick Store Pub in Decatur. Last February Macon claimed $140 for a meal at The Pecan in neighboring College Park.

“We do have ... Red Lobster and Johnny Carino’s,” said Blevins, who campaigned for Macon four years ago. “It’s not a huge selection but for people like me even those restaurants are a treat. If he was going to take folks out, he should have been showcasing East Point.”

Records also show:

Macon spent $137.86 for a GPS navigator and MP3 player. “I got this because I was getting lost,” he said.

The mayor charged East Point taxpayers to rent cars at least eight times in a year even though he receives a car allowance. “My car allowance is for me to go around town,” Macon said. Most of the time, he rents a car for-out-of town to avoid putting the miles on his car.” But at least one time, Macon charged East Point almost $265 for mileage to drive his own car to Morgan County and Washington County to attend a Georgia Conference of Black Mayors meeting to discuss federal stimulus money.

“I don’t see any reason why these expenditures need to be made except that’s what he wants to do,” said Borders.

Macon’s response is, “Everything I have done is for the betterment of East Point and to move the city ahead.”

He said those meetings are key to that effort.

“My job as mayor is being the chief spokesperson for the city of East Point,” Macon said. “From time to time, that requires business expenditures.”

East Point’s charter, however, does not allow the mayor to negotiate or reach any agreements for the city; that is the city council’s responsibility. Also, the charter says any such meetings should involve the city manager or someone charged with pursuing economic development.

“You cannot use public funds to buy meals for yourself,” Jeffares said. “He was not in any position to direct any employee he had lunch with.”

Jeffares and Blevins also are questioning his payment history with the city’s utility office.

“It isn’t fair to this city and the people of this city who struggle to pay their bills to have someone abuse the system,” Blevins said.

Macon’s debt to East Point for electricity, water and sewer service topped $2,150 in 2007, a year during which Macon went nine months without paying his bill. In December 2007, when his overdue bill was almost $1,300, his service was turned off for a day; there was no re-connection fee, according to records.

“I’m current on my utility bill,” Macon said. “I, like some other citizens, had billing issues with the city of East Point. After the finance department reviewed my bills, I worked out repayment with the finance department. I am not on a list of people who are exempt from disconnection.”

On Wednesday, Jeffares sent a letter to the local elections superintendent to request an investigation of Macon’s affidavit filed when he qualified. He swore in that document that he has not defaulted on any debt.

Jeffares provided copies of records filed with Fulton County concerning the debts and she asked for an investigation and that Macon be disqualified from the Nov. 3 city election if officials find he was not truthful.

“I do owe taxes from an underpayment of state taxes,” Macon said. “I’m in a repayment plan with the [Georgia] Department of Revenue.”

In 2004, Macon underpaid his state taxes by $313. The next year his underpayment was $1,257. Macon underpaid his state taxes by $213 in 2006. He owed those taxes plus interest, penalties and other fees.

The liens were filed in recent months and he has since resolved the 2004 debt.

Macon discounts the critics and their efforts to defeat him.

“My administration has had to make some very hard decisions,” Macon said. “They haven’t been popular... I’m trying to change things.”