DEL.ICIO.USDeKalb budget may come up $40 million short
New CEO faces litany of problems, from leaking county buildings to crumbling roads
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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.
ALLEN SULLIVAN / aesullivan@ajc.com
CEO-elect Burrell Ellis has assigned a team of volunteers and paid consultants to review DeKalb County operations.
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.”
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Comments
By JANET JUBILEE
Dec 20, 2008 9:54 PM | Link to this
NOV 13-14 The Dekalb county swat team ISSUED ROLLING STOP SIGN TICKETS in our neighborhood Daniel B. Veasey, the MILITARY COP was our neighborhood enemy. Those who still have courage will go to court January 16 to fight! E-mail me for full story about BLACKWATER POLICE IN DEKALB
Truthnews@aol.com
By beam me up
Nov 12, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this
Heard it all... I hope you've also heard that Dekalb and Fulton support Marta and Grady while the others freeload. If this cost were, then we'd have the funds to weather this storm without cuts.
By Heard it all before
Nov 12, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
I don't pretend to be a bond lawyer, but I would assume that bond covenants would prevent diverting interest to Parks and Rec operational budgets, so that wouldn't be an option for the department's needs. Whether interest has been spent on any non-parks project, I have no idea.
It just seems to me this budget crisis can be conveniently used to mask some underlying disfunction. The county staff can say, "Well, we can't now afford to spend on man-hours to develop parks or libraries, or to spend on the maintenance projects that were funded in the parks bond issues." Okay, what about the past several years when the county was in a much better cash position?
Why is DeKalb so comparatively slow vs. other counties in following through on funded development projects? Are we all supposed to feel good that we've bought up greenspace and have money in the bank for new libraries, when the new parks and libraries are not accessible to us? Have a look sometime at the plethora of great, multi-use parks in Gwinnett if you want to get a good snapshot of how many years behind DeKalb is.
By Kenya
Nov 11, 2008 6:19 PM | Link to this
Check Vernon's back yard, under the third tree you might find an X. Well X marks the spot of possibly all our tax dollars.
By More on Parks & Rec
Nov 11, 2008 5:44 PM | Link to this
Good point by Heard it all before.
And get this: There has been millions and millions of interest from both bond issues, but the public has been kept out of the loop on how it's been spent. Some of it went to Vernon's South DeKalb Arts Center.
The Parks & Rec. Dept. has all these alledged needs, yet the millions from bond interest has been spent in a very, very suspect and questionable manner.
By Margaret
Nov 11, 2008 5:03 PM | Link to this
Are there no moderators for these comments? Why is all this irrelevant nonsense being left on display? The AJC has no responsibility to maintain this drivel. If you can't write sensibly and to the point then don't bother. Show respect.
By Heard it all before
Nov 11, 2008 5:00 PM | Link to this
Tying the unimproved park land to the current parks department and its staffing like the story does is only a slim part of the reality. Both bond issues since 2001 included significant dollars to develop new parks and improve existing ones. However, the pace of actual work coming out of Parks and Rec was a snail's pace (sorry, snails, I know you probably find that an insult). The inertia at Parks and Rec dates back far before the current budget problems. In nearly eight years, we ought to have more to show for that money than a bunch of forested land you can't park near, let alone actually use, and a few improvements at places like Brook Run.
By Wayne
Nov 11, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this
I wish they would start teaching in schools.. then people like Butch would understand the stupidity of their remarks.. Just about EVERY economic advisor will conceed the house of cards came tumbling down with fannie and freddie.. now.. WHO was it that prevented regulating this entity? Not the Repugs.. the Dems.. other nice thing to note.. Rahm.. was on the board at fannie and freddie during the HEIGHT of corruption.. Obama = Change.. right.. seems like politics as usual..
By Stop the madness
Nov 11, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
I agree there is waste but feel the money for 311 was well spent to help track problems in the departments. I spoke to a 311 person who was very nice but she explained that she could not finish helping me because the supervisor called to say she was on the phone too long talking about nothing. She was very helpful apologetic and volunteered to call me on her own time. She should be the supervisor and the other one should be fired.
By Robby
Nov 11, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this
Lost Traffic tickets? Isn't there 3 copies of the ticket and they are put in the computer when received? Oops! I bet someone threw them away accidently on purpose..
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