DeKalb County Commissioners say they have yet to sign off on specific budget cuts in the police department and are accusing county administrators of playing political games to secure more funding.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Lee May, chairman of the budget committee, told county departments to hold off on layoffs or major budget cuts before receiving furtherapproval.
A fight over a police helicopter is the latest squabble between commissioners and CEO Burrell Ellis’ staff as the CEO decides whether to veto the 2011 budget. Last week, the commission approved a $530 million budget with $33.6 million in cuts and no tax increase.
On Tuesday, Ellis said he is still analyzing those cuts and has yet to determine if he will veto the plan. The deadline for the veto is Friday, but commissioners need five votes out of seven to override the CEO. The board originally passed the budget by a 5-2 vote.
As that deadline draws closer, political intrigue has increased.
On Friday, a police spokeswoman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the agency’s helicopter was no longer doing patrols and that a June training academy had been canceled all to meet a $4.7 million cut in the police department’s budget.
On Tuesday, the AJC obtained records that show the helicopter had been grounded long before the proposed budget cuts to allow the department to review safety procedures after the agency’s other helicopter crashed in September.
“This is a mere attempt to scare citizens into a tax increase without a critical review of operations,” commission chief of staff Morris Williams wrote to commissioners. “Through this poor management, the administration is putting citizens in a panic mode and encouraging mistrust of the [Board of Commissioners].”
Chief Operating Officer Richard Stogner said Tuesday that no plans have been finalized on budget cuts and he was waiting on reports from each department head, including the police chief, on how best to move forward with the cuts.
“Actually it’s miscommunication that we put out. What the underlying principle is, I don’t know,” said Stogner, second in command under the Ellis. “Somewhere these decisions were translated to a memo and they shouldn’t have been. It was premature and I had a conversation with the chief and told him not to cut anything yet.”
The police department has also put on hold background checks on all applicants for the June academy pending a final decision on the cuts, Stogner said.
May said he wants to see the department reports, which are due Friday, before any action is taken.
“The Board of Commissioners didn’t make any final decisions on the helicopter or the academy. We’re waiting on those operational plans before acting and hoping the departments do too,” he said. “Our intent is not to paralyze services.”
Based on the departmental operational plans, commissioners could amend the budget. However, commissioners said they still do not anticipate raising taxes.
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