CEO: DeKalb sewer upgrades will create 1,300 jobs

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DeKalb County’s financial situation continues to worsen, but the county’s water and sewer upgrades will create more than 1,300 jobs, CEO Burrell Ellis announced Thursday morning in his “State of the County” address.

Addressing a crowd of about 400 business and political leaders, Ellis called the planned water improvements a “stimulus package.” The federal Environmental Protection Agency called it a consent decree.

The EPA mandated the county improve its water and sewer system and pay a fine, after DeKalb reported more than 800 raw sewage spills in five years. As a result, last month the county commission approved water rate increases to fund the $1.35 billion in upgrades.

Thursday, Ellis told officials that the sewer project would be a $5 billion economic impact to the region.

“This is DeKalb County’s economic stimulus plan — a stimulus package designed to rebuild our infrastructure and promote economic prosperity through the creation of new jobs,” Ellis said.

Ellis promised the jobs will be directed to DeKalb residents and small, minority-owned contractors, Ellis said. The jobs, which will be created over the next eight years, will be primarily in construction, architecture and engineering.

Ellis, who is starting the third year of his four-year term, acknowledged that the county had no choice but to upgrade the system because of the federal mandate.

Commissioner Jeff Rader said the jobs are a plus, but the county government shouldn’t be used as an employer.

“Jobs will be created and in general it will be a benefit, but job creation is not enough of a reason to make appropriation decisions,” Rader said after the address. “Our focus should be on improving the region to attract jobs, not to employ people. We’re not an employer.”

This is Ellis’ second major attempt at a stimulus package. Last year, Ellis proposed using federal stimulus money to redevelop the vacant GM plant in Doraville, promising 9,000 construction jobs by turning the property into an Atlantic Station-like center. However, commissioners rejected the project, voting against giving public money to a private developer.

In his Thursday speech, Ellis did not mention the GM site, but he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he continues to talk with developers.

“I think the opportunity for development at GM and the opportunity for thousands of jobs to be created there still exists,” Ellis said.

Ellis’ push to create jobs on the county’s dollar is one of the reasons the commission voted against the GM project, along with the county’s deeper financial woes, Rader said.

Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton said she had not studied the numbers to verify how many jobs the upgrades will create, but said she hopes it attracts outside businesses.

Ellis acknowledged the county’s financial troubles, including large drops in property values, and said that is why the county must raise property taxes by 2.32 mills this year. Commissioners, who have the final vote on the 2011 budget, have said they will not approve a tax increase until they see the CEO reorganize the government and make deeper cuts.

DeKalb Chamber of Commerce president Leonardo McClarty said he is not sure a tax increase is the answer, but was pleased that the CEO was upfront about the county’s finances.

“Before it’s all said and done, I think there will be a middle ground between the CEO and the commissioners,” he said.

Despite the financial problems – including the county’s bond rating being dropped for a second consecutive year – crime is going down, Ellis said.

Records obtained by the AJC show overall violent crime, which includes armed robberies, aggravated assaults, rapes and murders, decreased 10 percent from 2009 to 2010. However, murders are up 42 percent.

In 2009, DeKalb reported the lowest murder rate it had seen in nine years. In 2010, the number of murders rose from 62 to 88.

Ed Gates Bey, divine minister of the Moorish Science Temple of America in Decatur, said he met with DeKalb police and was horrified by the escalating murder rate.

“I turn on my TV every evening and it’s one incident after another, criminal incidents are all over,” said Bey, who is leading a 24-hour peace moratorium Friday.

The chamber and Council for Quality Growth paid for the majority of the two State of the County addresses -- one for business leaders and the other for residents. About $4,000 in tax funds were used for a stage and video production, a county spokesman said.