Clayton County faces an $8.4 million deficit for the rest of its fiscal year, if it continues on its current spending path, top county officials were told during a daylong retreat Friday.
Much of the projected shortfall is because revenue is down. But a third of the deficit comes from the sheriff's department, which has spent its overtime budget already, finance director Angela Jackson told county commissioners and others gathered at the Georgia Archives.
The general fund of the county's fiscal year 2011 budget currently totals about $167 million. Clayton County's fiscal year ends in June.
The county is looking at the possibility of a budget for the next fiscal year of $150 million if current projections hold true, officials said.
Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell said he set up the the retreat in an effort to sort out some pressing budgetary issues and create strategies for dealing with them.
"I called for a mid-year review because of the economy's devastating consequences" on budgetary matters, he said.
Reports from the tax assessor's office and other departments showed the county is collecting less in most revenue-generating areas such as franchise fees and local option sales tax, totaling millions.
At the same time, property values have dropped, meaning less money for the county as property tax assessments are appealed. Last year, some 6,000 appeals led to a 13 percent drop in property values, Clayton's chief appraiser Rodney McDaniel said. He expects a deluge of appeals when owners get their assessments in April followed by tax bills in September.
"If we have a high volume of appeals," McDaniel said, "that's certainly going to have a negative impact on the county."
At the retreat, sheriff's officials defended department spending saying it is short-staffed and overtime is necessary to cover courts, jails, schools and other obligations. Despite getting 12 new positions, "we don't have enough people to cover all areas," said chief deputy Garland Watkins, who oversees budgeting for the department.
Commissioners questioned the sheriff's decision to add more staff to school security duty when other school districts have their own security forces.
"We can't continue to be in the schools when the budget is being overspent to the tune of millions of dollars," Commission Vice Chairman Wole Ralph said. "We have to really make adjustments on how we run government. This board has to make some very tough decisions that will rankle John Q. Public."
Sheriff Kem Kimbrough defended his decision but said he was willing to work to reduce overtime.
The commission will decide cost-cutting measures in the next 60 to 90 days.
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