DeKalb budget may come up $40 million short

Crumbling buildings. New parkland but not enough money to maintain it. Inadequate staffing.

Those are among the problems cited by DeKalb County officials in briefing memos as the next chief executive officer prepares to take over. Don’t look to CEO-elect Burrell Ellis for much relief.

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ALLEN SULLIVAN / aesullivan@ajc.com

CEO-elect Burrell Ellis has assigned a team of volunteers and paid consultants to review DeKalb County operations.

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With tax revenue waning and costs rising, Ellis, who takes office in January, will have few options except to cut spending. Current county finance director Mike Bell says officials might have to cut as much as $40 million in services — or raise taxes — to balance the 2009 budget.

Several local metro Atlanta governments face declining collections for taxes and fees because of the economic slowdown.

In DeKalb, Ellis has assigned a transition team of volunteers and paid consultants to review county operations. Department heads gave the team briefing books that list a litany of problems. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reviewed the documents under the Georgia Open Records Act. Among the problems they cite:

• Money from voter-approved bond programs has nearly doubled the county’s inventory of park land to 6,400 acres during the eight-year tenure of current CEO Vernon Jones. Yet the $22.5 million parks budget has increased by less than one-fifth since 2005, when it was $19.2 million. The parks department has holes in its staffing, with a quarter of full-time positions vacant.

• The facilities maintenance department, which is responsible for more than 250 buildings, has deferred repairs. It’s so bad that the park services division had to move out of its Chestnut Street headquarters near Avondale Estates this year “due to persistently deteriorating building conditions.” The staff there endured major roof leaks, mold on the walls, rodents in the attic and “frequent” overflows of the septic tank system, until they were moved to temporary quarters. Ellis will have to find them permanent offices.

• The county’s public works department has a road maintenance backlog in excess of $100 million, and it’s projected to grow. The county has over 300 miles of roadway that warrant “immediate” resurfacing, but public works can afford to repair only about 45 miles a year. With more roads deteriorating, “the backlog will continue to grow by 50 to 60 additional miles per year,” according to the reports.

Jones, the current CEO, acknowledged the county’s budget crunch. He said through a spokesperson that “tough decisions must be made to remain fiscally responsible, and there is no blank check for taxpayers’ dollars, including honoring every request with no limits for department heads and constitutional officers.”

It’s not unusual at budgeting time for department heads to make a case for more money.

Ellis said in an interview that there appears to be “some legitimacy” to these warnings. He has until Jan. 15 to introduce a budget.

Officials say it will be a tight one.

Bell, the county finance director, briefed county commissioners last week. Revenues are dropping, he said, and are expected to be tens of millions of dollars below this year’s figure.

He said his staff whittled tens of millions of dollars from departmental requests for 2009 but said the projected spending was still at least $40 million above the $589 million in revenues anticipated next year.

“There’s going to have to be some reconstruction or deconstruction of the government,” Bell said. “We can’t do everything we’re doing now.”