For $19 million, you could …

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter called it irresponsible when Gwinnett County commissioners voted to fund $19 million in cost overruns and upgrades for the new Gwinnett Braves stadium project last week.

The decision left Porter flabbergasted.

“I think the commissioners are going to have to stand up and start making some real choices instead of just bread and circuses,” he said.

Although the $19 million outlay will come from the county’s reserve fund —- not the general fund that pays for the operation of county departments —- the district attorney draws little distinction.

County Commissioner Bert Nasuti, who has helped lead the drive for baseball in Gwinnett, said the stadium had no influence on the 2008 budgeting process.

“Whatever shortfalls [Porter] felt, they weren’t related to baseball,” Nasuti said, adding that serious arrangements to move the Braves’ minor league team here did not occur until well after the budget process for 2008 was completed. “It wasn’t a budget influenced by baseball.”

He enumerated a list of unfunded requests he had made for his office in the 2008 budget:

Two victim assistance positions; one prosecutor for Juvenile Court; two assistant district attorneys for the drug task force; one criminal investigator for white-collar and computer crime; and three additional investigators.

Likewise, the county Sheriff’s and Police departments made requests for some new positions that went unfunded. Last year, county departments submitted requests for 372 new positions. The County Commission adopted a budget funding 95 of those, mostly in courts and public safety. They include: four positions for the judiciary, two positions for the clerk of the court, two positions for the Sheriff’s Department; 30 for police; and eight positions for the district attorney.

In the budgeting process, it is not unusual for departments to ask for more than they think they will get. And the county typically budgets for more than departments spend. Leftover money goes into the county’s reserve fund, which stood at $152 million at the beginning of the year. Because of sales tax and other revenue shortfalls, coupled with the $19 million in stadium overruns, that reserve is expected to fall to $107 million by year’s end, an amount still well above the minimum the county has established for safe budgeting practices.

Nasuti said every governing board gets more requests for personnel than it can fund. Some positions, he said, are more expensive than others.

When it comes to new positions, few struck out quite as badly as the Sheriff’s Department.

Financial services department records for 2008 show the Sheriff’s Department had requested 20 positions for criminal warrant deputies and support staff; five positions in the training division; 18 for jail operations; eight for civil warrant deputies; and three for internal affairs. None were funded.

The only other positions request the sheriff made was for four court security officers. Two were funded.

Additionally, the Sheriff’s Department had asked for 30 portable radios and 40 mobile data terminals for vehicles. All were denied.

Sheriff Butch Conway has declined to comment.

The Fire Department fared much better, receiving funding for 42 of the 71 positions it had requested.

Capt. Thomas Rutledge, Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services spokesman, said the department always has received support from the commission and the public.

“The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners and the County Administrators Office has always been very supportive of public safety,” Rutledge said. “That has been our experience in the past, and I expect it to be the case well into the future.”

Nasuti said public safety is a top priority for the commission.

“The current board has put more police officers on the street than many of the years before,” Nasuti said. As for the Sheriff’s Department, Nasuti said the commission has approved additional funding throughout the year when the department submits a request before the board.

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Gwinnett County has approved $19 million in improvements and cost overruns to the Gwinnett Braves stadium now under construction. The money will come from the county’s reserve fund. Here’s a sampling of what else that amount of money could buy:

> Hire 542 new police officers.

> Buy 1,151,000 copies of Lisa Gardner’s “Say Goodbye,” one of the most requested library books.

> Resurface 95 miles of four-lane highway, or 190 miles of two-lane highway, or 223 miles of residential streets.

> Buy 46 new pumper-engine firetrucks.

> Buy 39 new Gwinnett Transit 45-foot Motorcoach buses.

Sources: Gwinnettpl.org, amazon.com, Gwinnett DOT, Gwinnett Fire Department, Gwinnett County Department of Financial Services