Leaked memo shows Gwinnett County budget cuts

Gwinnett County is considering cuts in some of its premium services — police, corrections, parks and libraries — that could make them virtually unrecognizable in five years.

All told, the proposal, leaked in a memo over the weekend, calls for $225 million in cuts through 2014. It recommends eliminating up to 250 current jobs this year — including 53 police positions — and decreasing benefits to remaining employees.

“We’re taking the tack the voters gave us,” said County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister. “If you don’t have the money, you can’t obligate the county to new programs.”

Over the past several years, Bannister said, the county has budgeted with a five-year plan in mind. Most of the cuts today will affect the picture of what planners had hoped to achieve by 2014. Heading that list was more police and fire protection, he said.

One of the major steps in the plan calls for elimination of the Department of Corrections by mid 2011. The department operates on an annual budget of $12.7 million and employs 143 people.

The action would result in a savings of about $7 million a year. The county receives about $5 million in revenue from the facility in terms of inmate labor and a $20-a-day stipend for each inmate from the state.

Major capital projects scheduled over the next four years would be deferred. These include: seven fire and EMS stations; two police precincts and at least five parks. It also includes elimination of funding to operate the new $7.4 million Hamilton Mill Library, which is scheduled for completion early next year.

This round of suggested cuts — the most severe since the economic downturn of last fall — comes in the wake of public outcry against a proposed property tax increase early last month. County commissioners killed that measure and directed county departments to cut operating budgets instead.

The first round of cuts, adopted June 16, pared about $21 million in expenses, including about $7.1 million from the scheduled expansion of police. Another $13 million in capital improvements, such as parks and buildings, were put on hold. It also eliminated 103 vacant positions.

Because of the leaked memo, citing the proposed cuts, details of the cut proposals have been placed on the county’s website to give the public time to react before the commission votes on them next Tuesday, Bannister said.