Clayton passes budget, doesn't cut employee pay 4 percent

By Ralph Ellis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Clayton County employees won't need to take a 4-percent pay cut next year.

Commission Chairman Wole Ralph introduced and passed a budget plan on Tuesday night that was designed to save money by closing the county police academy, outsourcing planning services and instituting a three-month hiring freeze. County employees will take four furlough days and six employees will lose their jobs, he said.

Ralph's $166 million general fund budget was approved 3-2, with Chairman Eldrin Bell and Michael Edmondson voting against it. The general fund pays for most county operational services, including salaries.

A week ago Bell introduced a $168 million budget proposal that called for county employee pay cuts of 4 percent and the use of $4.5 million in reserve funds to make up a $9 million deficit. No employees would have been laid off under Bell's plan.

Several county employees complained about the pay cut at a hearing last week, arguing that the task of a balanced budget should be placed on all county residents, not just employees.

Bell conceded he wasn't committed to the pay cut and on Tuesday night he raised the possibility of a tax increase. That idea didn't go anywhere, either. The budget that passed has no tax hike.

Ralph said he was able to find new income because property tax collections are $725,000 more than expected, and sales tax collections are up, too.

Other money-saving ideas in Ralph's amendment included reducing legal fees and eliminating a grant-writing job. Ralph said the police academy has become a financial liability because the state reduced funding and the building needs about $400,000 in repairs.

Closing the police academy will eliminate five jobs, but the county government will hire two people to train officers. One of the employees affected is Jeff Turner, who became the academy director after losing his job as county police chief a few months  ago.

Ralph and Bell exchanged cross words over the budget process. Ralph complained that Bell didn't hand out his proposed budget until a few weeks ago, even though the new fiscal year starts on Thursday. Bell said he couldn't have done that earlier because he didn't receive income estimates until a few weeks earlier.

Bell said Ralph refused to discuss the budget when it was in the planning stages.

"That's true," Bell said.

"That's not true, Mr. Chairman," Ralph said. "I can't give an opinion on a document that I haven't seen."

Ralph also called for a review of employees who have take-home cars, though the commission chairman and law-enforcement personnel would be exempt. That left only Tax Commissioner Terry Baskin, whose office has two cars, to submit to this inspection.

"Why am I the only one targeted in this county?" Baskin said after the meeting.

The cars are used for investigative purposes and only driven out of the county for conferences, Baskin said.