Fulton County’s tight budget is looking a bit brighter now that financial results for 2023 are in.
“The good news is, the end of year results … were $30 million better than the mid-year projection,” County Manager Dick Anderson told commissioners Wednesday.
But in general, the unchanged property tax rate “removes the margin for error,” meaning the county can continue its current services but not offer any expansion in 2024, he said. County staff recommended hiking the tax rate but commissioners voted to keep it the same as last year.
Still, the county will be able to address several priorities in the proposed $1.3 billion budget, Anderson said. High among those are cost-of-living raises to bring county employees’ pay to market rate and continued double overtime pay at the Fulton County jail, which has chronic staffing shortages.
Commissioners are expected to approve the final budget at their Jan. 24 meeting.
General Fund spending proposals have risen from $917.2 million to $953.7 million, CFO Sharon Whitmore said. That is more General Fund money than the county expects to take in, so the difference will come from reserve funds. The county should end 2024 with a $157.6 million fund balance, a half-million more than legally required, Whitmore said.
Commissioner Bridget Thorne suggested cutting the proposed budget for elections. County staff are allocating $35 million to handle up to five elections in 2024, including city, county, state and national contests. Thorne called a $12.8 million, 6-month contract for temporary workers “exorbitant,” and urged cutting the $1 million allocation for voter education and outreach.
She also criticized Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, denouncing spending on the sweeping investigation and prosecution of former President Donald Trump and multiple codefendants on accusations of 2020 election interference.
In reference to raises for county employees, Commissioner Natalie Hall asked for the new definition of “living wage” as used by the county.
The 2024 budget would raise the county’s entry-level full-time pay to $38,000 a year, Chief HR Officer Kenneth Hermon said. That would put Fulton ahead of other local governments, he said. The 235 people now making the county’s starting wage of $32,000 would also get an increase to $38,000, Hermon said.
“Actually $38,000 is still not a living wage in Fulton County and Atlanta,” Hall said. It should be above $40,000, she said.
Whitmore said a 5% cost of living raise for all county employees would go into effect Jan. 31. Then the entry-level pay would rise Feb. 14, and a new pay plan would change the salary range for all other county employees April 10.
Commissioner Dana Barrett said she wanted to be “really loud” about spending down the fund balance for several years. She thinks the county will need to raise its property tax rate to meet its goals.
Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. said he wants to fund arts programs at the same level as 2023, when they benefited from several one-time funding sources. He also wants to guarantee funding for the several hundred jobs created for Project ORCA, the effort to eliminate a huge backlog in court cases. Officially those positions are only funded through mid-year, so the county needs to commit full-year funding or face losing staff early as workers anticipate their jobs will end, Arrington said.
Commissioner Natalie Hall said she wants to put more into a spectrum of priorities: arts, senior services, veteran and homeless services, and law enforcement.
During the commission public comment period, Chief Magistrate Court Judge Cassandra Kirk asked commissioners to “remember” her office in the budget.
“This is the busiest magistrate court in the state of Georgia,” she said.
Last month, as one incident in a long-running dispute, commissioners voted to move funding for three judges from Magistrate Court to Superior Court, citing a steady drop in the number and percentage of cases Magistrate Court closed over the last several years despite annual budget increases.
Kirk asked for that funding to be restored to Magistrate Court, and said she met Jan. 5 with Superior Court officials to discuss a draft memorandum on cooperation.
A recent assessment shows Magistrate Court is understaffed, Kirk said. She urged that clerk functions for Magistrate and Superior Courts be separated, saying that would improve efficiency.