Columbus Consolidated Government: Veteran Points on Civil Service Examinations

Section 16B-4-8 of the Columbus Code, from the 1971 personnel ordinance as amended in 1974, governs the Columbus Consolidated Government's examinations. - An honorably discharged disabled veteran who passes an open competitive examination gets ten points added "in determining his order or rank on the eligible list for initial appointment only", on proof of military service, of the disability and of the honorable discharge filed on or before the examination date. - An honorably discharged veteran with no disability rating gets five points, on proof of service and discharge filed by the same date. - No other credit is given at any stage. How it compares with the State's points. Code sections 45-2-21 and 45-2-22 give five points to an honorably discharged veteran with more than 180 days of active duty, some of it during armed conflict, and ten to one who also has a VA-rated disability of 10% or more (see the Georgia entry). Columbus's code sets no wartime, length of service or 10% test, so a peacetime veteran gets five points and any rated disability gets ten. Both apply only where there is a scored competitive examination; the City's careers pages do not say which jobs use one. A stale citation. Section 16B-1-6 says veterans' procedures "will conform with Article III, Section VII, Paragraph XXIV, of the Constitution of the State of Georgia". That paragraph belongs to the Constitution in force when the ordinance was adopted in 1971; the present Constitution dates from 1983, and its merit system preference is Article IV, Section III, Paragraph II.