Layoffs grow in DeKalb development agency

The pace of layoffs in DeKalb County’s development department quickened Wednesday as rank and file inspectors were told they were out of a job.

Employees who trickled out of the agency headquarters in Decatur after their final meeting with a supervisor said dozens of colleagues had been laid off. The cuts began Tuesday when the jobs of a handful of managers were eliminated. The removals Wednesday spread to non-supervisory workers, and ended months of tension for some.

“It’s been a nightmare,” said Bill Burbank, a structural inspector who walked out of the development department building Wednesday with his empty identification holder dangling from his neck and a white hard hat nestled in the crook of his arm.

He and several other laid off employees said they’d been left dangling since at least April when their bosses started talking openly about the need for layoffs.

County CEO Burrell Ellis said more than 60 positions are being eliminated effective Friday. The development department, which had 107 employees, will be left with 45, he said. It’s a relatively large hit but not as bad as it could have been.

The agency reached a budget crisis after months of declines in building permit applications and undiminished spending. The department must fund itself from inspection-based fees and permit licenses, and officials overestimated such revenue this year. They budgeted to spend $8.4 million but it now looks as if the department will take in half that much.

Two weeks ago, officials were expecting to eliminate as many as 90 positions, but Ellis postponed the layoffs, saying he was looking for other options. He said Wednesday that he was concerned the department would be unable to operate with a skeletal staff of fewer than 20.

He recommended a $2.5 million subsidy from the county’s tax revenue accounts. When Finance Director Mike Bell said that would trigger a tax increase, county commissioners, including budget committee chairwoman Connie Stokes, spoke out against it.

This week, budget officials and the commission found a way to pay for the subsidy without a tax increase. The new plan would force all county employees to forgo pay on an upcoming holiday this year, and it would scrub accounts for over $1 million that was “orphaned” by errors in record keeping. Stokes said that plan would likely pass when the commission votes Tuesday on amending the budget.