DeKalb County Commissioners want more say on expenditures.

On Thursday, the commission asked for an analysis on switching to a line-item budget.

Currently, commissioners only set department-wide budgets and CEO Burrell Ellis, along with department heads, monitor individual expenses.

“Essentially we can tell the administration here is a lump sum of $20 million and then they can do what ever they want to do,” said Commissioner Lee May, chairman of the budget committee. “A line-item budget would give us more control.”

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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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