DeKalb County Commissioners are gearing up for two daylong meetings designed to help find ways to cut its 2012 budget before a vote by month’s end.
Starting with the first session Thursday, the commission’s budget committee wants to hear from every department and office about their expenses. Part of the presentation must also include how offices would operate with a 5 percent or 10 percent cut to their individual spending in Chief Executive Burrell Ellis' proposed $547 million budget.
Commissioners have said they expect to make cuts, though not how deep, even though some departments have already asked for more money than Ellis proposed.
“Our final budget may include additional cuts, likely will include additional cuts,” said County Commissioner Lee May, who heads the budget committee. “We want to make sure every department is ready for the changes we may be making. We don’t want any surprises.”
The department-by-department meetings, and clear goals for additional spending cuts, are a more formal version of last year’s initial budget showdown between the commission and Ellis. Under the county's unique structure, the CEO submits a budget each year, but final say on spending lies with the commission.
That could include increasing the budgets of some departments that have already submitted their take on the 2012 spending plan by asking for more money, not offering reductions.
The public defender’s office, for instance, wrote that it will be forced to fire six attorneys or furlough all workers for 27 days to operate under the CEO’s proposed $530,300 reduction. Either move would ultimately cost the county more, either through paying private lawyers or with delays, said Claudi Saari, the interim circuit public defender.
“A delay of just three weeks will cost the county $1,197 for each incarcerated defendant,” Saari wrote, explaining longer stays in county jail cost $57 per day per inmate.
The public defender’s office was one of 31 departments whose 2011 spending came in under budget last year. But 15 departments, ranging from the CEO’s office to the child advocate’s office, overspent.
That wasn’t supposed to happen when the commission last winter rejected Ellis’ proposed 2.32 mill property tax increase and called for $33.6 million in cuts. The goal was to revisit the need for layoffs to meet those reductions in June, during a midyear budget review.
But by last summer, it was clear the county had miscalculated its expenses and continued to overspend. A projected 4 percent drop in the tax base became an actual 13 percent drop, and the commission needed to raise taxes by 4.5 mills – 26 percent – to balance its 2011 spending plan.
Ellis touts that increase for returning about $21 million to county reserves by the end of 2011. He also said the hike let him propose a 2012 spending plan that doesn’t increase taxes or cut services.
“I am open to discussions but I do not believe there is anywhere else to cut without it affecting the services we deliver,” Ellis said.
Commissioners counter that the proposed budget slightly increases spending from 2011's $540 million budget largely by counting on an increase in fees, such as in the Recorders Court, that require Legislative approval before they can be changed or launched.
All told, those fees account for about $4.5 million in the proposed budget. Finance director Joel Gottlieb is expected to produce a revised budget sometime this week that shows what the budget would be if those fees are stripped from the proposal.
Commissioner Elaine Boyer, who asked for the fees revenue to be cut, said she also will push for an alternate budget that shows how the county would lop another $20 million from its spending.
That large of a reduction would be a defensive move, showing the county can meet its budget if residents in north-central DeKalb get a chance to create a city of Brookhaven by year end. The county projects the new city would move $22 million from its coffers.
“We have to think about all the scenarios,” Boyer said. “It’s so exciting to get this going so we can get it done.”
The budget committee meeting begins at 9 a.m. on the fifth floor of the Manuel Maloof government building, 1300 Commerce Dr., Decatur. A second daylong will be held next Thursday.
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