If Cobb County Commissioners intend to improve the county’s current financial predicament, they should eliminate furloughs and steer clear of making other across-the-board decisions that are not effective.
That recommendation was repeated Tuesday throughout a three-hour presentation by a citizens oversight committee tasked with reviewing the county's policies, management structure and spending. The presentation was a part of a 112- page progress report of the committee's five months of work that included several long-term suggestions for saving money and increasing revenues and efficiencies.
“The use of furloughs are damaging morale and allow management to escape tough decisions on services provided and performance,” according to the panel’s report.
In April, Cobb commissioners implemented five employee furlough days through September, along with a 10 percent budget cut for all departments to close a $31 million mid-year budget gap. The next scheduled furlough day is Friday.
The committee's suggestions ranged from operational practices such as selling the county's golf course, consolidating some departments and public safety units and raising fees for county services. The panel also suggested benefit and compensation changes, including revising compensation time and 480-hour vacation accrual policies, which were found to greatly exceed benefits given to private–sector employees.
“We tried to take a business-like approach,” said committee chairman Brett McClung, a Marietta-based CPA. “[County government] is a business. The taxpayers are the owners in that they elect officials [to manage county operations], but they are also the consumers of the services the county provides.”
Commissioners established the oversight panel last year, just before agreeing on a special sales tax extension referendum to find long-term savings, reduce the county’s reliance on SPLOSTs and provide recommendations for the 2012 budget. The committee began work in March and has met weekly since then. Cobb’s oversight panel is similar to the Engage Gwinnett citizen committee that completed an evaluation for Gwinnett officials last year.
Like most other counties hurt by the recession, Cobb is dealing with declining tax revenues that led to this year's budget gap and an estimated $15 million budget deficit for the new fiscal year that begins in October.
The recommendations include items to help the county “get our swagger back,” said Commission Chairman Tim Lee.
For an immediate impact, the committee recommended eliminating vacant positions from the budget to save up to $6 million, shifting more medical costs to employees and reinstituting tax exemption and property tax audits that had been stopped due to budget cuts.
"I think there are some compensation and benefit practices that have been around in the county for a long time that need to be revisited and there ought to be money to give good employees to receive raises," said committee member Vance Booker, who headed the group reviewing Cobb's human resources. "I feel strongly that employees should get paid what the job is worth, but I don't think they should be paid more than the job is worth and you've got some of that going on in the county."
The oversight committee's next meeting is scheduled for July 6.
Read the report: http://www.cobbcountyga.gov/citizen-oversight
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