Gwinnett on track to eliminate $18 million deficit

By David Wickert

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gwinnett County is on track to eliminate an $18 million budget deficit by the end of the month after commissioners approved spending cuts and other measures Tuesday.

The county will use property tax revenue originally intended for library and road improvements to help cover a general fund deficit. It also will require county employees to take four unpaid holidays, eliminate at least seven vacant positions and cut other spending.

Tuesday’s actions, combined with previous measures, whittled the $18 million deficit down to $2.6 million.

“We’re coming down quickly,” Vice Chairwoman Shirley Lasseter said in a commission work session Tuesday. “This is good.”

In January the commissioners approved a $448.6 million general fund budget to pay for police and fire protection and other basic services in 2011. The adopted budget featured an $18 million deficit, but county officials pledged to find enough spending cuts and revenue hikes to balance the budget.

Last month the commissioners voted to raise Gwinnett’s base charge for emergency medical transports from $750 to $975. They also agreed to hold vacant jobs open for at least 90 days and sold right of way at Collins Hill Road and State Route 316 to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Those moves cut the deficit to about $14.4 million.

On Tuesday, the commissioners approved more budget measures that would:

-- Shift a .23 mill property tax levy from debt reduction to the general fund. Another formal vote will be required this summer or fall  to finalize this.

In 1986 voters approved general obligation bonds to pay for library and road improvements. Gwinnett recently paid off those bonds and now will use the .23 mill levy to cover operating costs. That will generate about $4.8 million for the general fund this year.

The county’s total property tax rate will remain unchanged at 13.25 mills.

-- Require county employees to take unpaid furlough days for Independence Day, Labor Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. The proposal will save Gwinnett about $2.8 million, including $2.1 million in the general fund. County officials say the move will allow the county to cut costs without affecting public services.

-- Eliminate at least seven vacant positions, cut part-time positions in the police department and impose a variety of other spending cuts. The cuts will save about $1.4 million, including $847,000 in the general fund.

-- Reduce contributions to risk management, workers compensation and fleet equipment funds. The move will save Gwinnett about $5 million, including $4 million in the general fund.

Mike Levengood, co-chairman of the Engage Gwinnett citizen panel that recommended a host of budget cuts last year, praised Tuesday’s actions. He called them “prudent measures” and “a good step toward balancing the budget.”

More budget-balancing measures are expected later this month.

“I’m looking forward to getting [the deficit] to zero,” Commissioner Mike Beaudreau said.