DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis says $33.6 million in proposed budget cuts are politically motivated to hurt him.

The County Commission is scheduled to approve a $530 million budget on Tuesday that includes massive cuts. Ellis had proposed raising property taxes.

“This is irresponsibly political. This was not done with the citizens at heart,” Ellis told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re going to have to have cuts in staff – either layoffs or furloughs. It’s going shut down government services.”

County commissioners said the cuts were not political, but aimed at reducing spending and eliminating a tax increase. Commissioners said they anticipate the cuts can be made without large staff reductions.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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