After saying for two months it wanted to cut spending, DeKalb County Commission's budget committee changed course Thursday and agreed to recommend the CEO’s budget increase for 2012.
The committee even added $7,200 to CEO Burrell Ellis’ amended $559 million budget, though it expects to lop off that small amount when making a spending recommendation Monday. The full board votes on the 2012 budget Tuesday.
“Although I continue to believe the CEO’s numbers are wrong and too high, we don’t have any clear alternative,” Commissioner Lee May, head of the budget committee, said of the committee’s reversal.
Unlike other metro Atlanta counties, DeKalb's commission does not make all budget decisions but works from a proposed spending plan from the CEO. That setup has long created conflict, though both sides agreed they wouldn’t support a tax increase after last summer's 26 percent hike.
Acceptance of the CEO’s budget would mark a new sign of unity. Several commissioners had immediately criticized Ellis for not cutting more when he first proposed the 2012 budget in December.
He revised his proposal by $12 million last week, an increase covered by a bump in the 2011 surplus, which would increase spending by 3.5 percent over last year.
Ellis has repeatedly said the county has nowhere left to cut without hurting popular programs such as recreation centers and police.
Commissioners seem to have heeded the public sentiment, finding small savings to add another $364,000 for county senior centers. That move, if approved next week, would return those facilities to their full funding from 2011.
There may also be at least one dissenter when the budget vote is called. Commissioner Elaine Boyer said that Ellis cost the county $41 million by overestimating how much property tax money DeKalb would collect during the economic downturn. If the 2012 budget again proves to be overly optimistic, it will mean more cuts during midyear review in June.
“It’s a gamble and I’m not sure it’s one worth taking,” Boyer said, adding she did not have commission support for her call to trim every department by about 5 percent, which would slice $4.5 million from the original budget proposal.
The commissioners could agree on one thing, though. For the third year in a row, they will recommend cutting $150,000 from the police budget, eliminating the salary of Public Safety Director William “Wiz” Miller.
It is the third year the commission has tried to do away with the post, which Ellis created shortly after taking office to oversee the police, fire rescue, animal services, E911, medical examiner’s and emergency management departments.
Ellis maintains his support for Miller and for the position. He has long argued that the commission can eliminate funding but does not have the power to eliminate a specific job.
"The CEO hopes that the [commission] will refrain from playing political games with the budget," said county spokesman Burke Brennan.
Still, to be safe, Ellis named Miller his 911 director last April. That would shield him if the commission succeeds in cutting the safety director job.
On Thursday, though, it was unclear how much money that cut would save. Commissioners point to documents showing Miller being paid with police funds, while the administration said part of Miller’s salary came from the 911 fund, money collected on all telephones for emergency services.
Sorting out that issue could end the debate. Miller would be limited in what duties he could perform if his entire salary comes from the 911 fund.
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