Jones: Budget shortfall beyond county’s control

DeKalb County is facing a likely budget shortfall next year because of factors beyond the county’s control, including actions by state government and a sour economy, Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones said.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Jones detailed outside pressures contributing to what is expected to be a difficult budget next year, including:

• Gov. Sonny Perdue’s decision to withhold a property tax credit nicked the county for $16 million;

• the state Legislature’s decision two years ago allowing county voters to give themselves a property tax assessment freeze had cost $5 million a year;

• creation of the new city of Dunwoody would cost $15.5 million in lost taxes;

• the faltering economy was draining about $5 million from annual sales tax revenues.

DeKalb Finance Director Mike Bell told county commissioners last week that the county could face up to a $40 million shortfall next year unless cuts are made.

Jones said the county was operating with a balanced budget this year. But it did so by burning through its reserve funds. The county started the year with a fund balance of $46 million, Bell said. It’s expected to end the year with $10 million or less, he said. That means the county will have a smaller cushion as it wrestles with matching anticipated revenues with the current list of expenses.

Jones said an article Tuesday in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that reported on the county’s looming budget problems was inaccurate and created a false impression. But he gave no details about his claims.

The term-limited Jones, who leaves office this year after two four-year terms, said that DeKalb wasn’t suffering alone.

“Everybody has a shortfall now,” he said. “There’s not a government out there that doesn’t have a shortfall.”