Gwinnett passes interim budget

Gwinnett County commissioners passed a $1.38 billion interim budget Tuesday designed to keep the government operating until a more detailed spending plan can be drawn.

The interim budget pares the county’s projected deficit to $12.2 million from the original projection of $43 million by implementing $26.2 million in additional spending reductions.

Cuts include reductions created by delaying $10 million in new initiatives that were scheduled for 2009 and implementing some savings proposed by county department officials in recent internal studies.

The interim budget represents a 2.8 percent decrease in spending from the proposed budget presented last month by Chairman Charles Bannister. That budget totaled $1.42 billion and carried a deficit of $43 million that would have tapped into the county’s reserve fund.

“This is probably the most important budget Gwinnett County has ever adopted,” Bannister said. “We’re looking at high levels of uncertainty — a $43 million budget gap and a large community of growing service needs.”

Bannister said it is unusual for a county to enter a year without a solid spending plan, but by delaying the final budget until March, the county will have a better picture of the economic landscape from which to work.

“This is the time to be methodical and take our time,” Bannister said. “We need to have a feel for how the state budget might impact us, foreclosures — many of them — may hit the tax base more than we previously anticipated. We already know that our sales taxes are trending downward.”

County finance director Maria Woods said staffing of Fire Station 29 and a ladder unit at Fire Station 18 are the only new initiatives included in this budget. Out for now are 29 new police positions and several fire department spots listed in the chairman’s original proposal. The budget allows for a net 2.36 percent increase in employee compensation, although the county is increasing the employees’ share of health insurance costs by 30 percent.

Subsidized agencies — DFACS, indigent medical care, the Latin American Association for example — were cut 10 percent. Three programs, Gwinnett Glows, Movies Under the Stars and the annual open house, received no funding.

“We’ll use this interim period to evaluate additional cuts,” Bannister said. “…The board and the public will have a clear picture of where we have cut costs and services, the price for expanded services and the plan for paying for all of it.”