Fulton County 2014 budget at a glance
* Assumes a 15 percent increase in the county property tax rate to $11.85 per $1,000 of assessed value from $10.28. The increase — which could cost the owner of a $200,000 home an additional $65.55 a year — would generate about $55.5 million. County commissioners will vote on the tax rate this summer.
* Closes most county libraries one or two days a week, although the Central Library and the Auburn Avenue Research Library will remain open seven days.
* Reduces the county's operating subsidy for Grady Memorial Hospital to $45 million from $50 million.
* Raises the price of breakfast at local senior centers by 50 cents and the price of lunch by $1. Also, county residents will pay a $25 annual membership fee at senior centers.
Ever since voters approved plans to build eight new libraries and renovate others in 2008, Fulton County officials have struggled to figure out how to pay to operate them once they opened.
The county’s 2014 budget provides a partial answer: Fulton will cut hours, staffing and programming at its existing 33 branches.
That’s just one of the trade-offs in Fulton’s $625.4 million general fund budget, approved by the Board of Commissioners last month. The budget pays for countywide services such as libraries, courts, elections and social services. It offers a mixed bag for taxpayers, who will in some cases pay more and get fewer services in return.
The budget assumes county commissioners will approve a 15 percent property tax rate increase this summer. Fulton will cut spending on a variety of programs, including a $5 million reduction in funding of health care for low-income people at Grady Memorial Hospital. And seniors will pay more to eat breakfast and lunch at senior centers.
But perhaps the most visible change for many residents will be at local libraries. Though libraries now are open six or seven days a week, beginning Wednesday only the Central Library and the Auburn Avenue Research Library will be open seven days. Others will be open four or five days a week.
Library supporters say the cuts will hurt. But they’re trying to make the best of it.
“It could have been worse,” said Brenda Collins, president of Friends of the Dogwood Library in Atlanta. “We can still provide quality services to our community.”
Fulton officials said they had little choice. After years of dipping deeply into reserves to balance their budget, the county was running out of wiggle room.
“It’s a tough decision. I’m a strong proponent of libraries,” said County Commission Chairman John Eaves. “Every area had to have some reduction.”
The future of library funding has been a giant question mark in Fulton’s budget since 2008, when voters approved a $275 million bond issue for a library expansion program. The plans call for spending $167 million initially to build eight new libraries and expand two others. A second phase will involve spending $108 million to renovate 23 existing branches and build a new central library.
For the past few years the county has been scouting locations and hiring architects and contractors. It broke ground on the first new libraries in 2013.
Three of the new libraries — Wolf Creek, East Roswell and Palmetto — will open by the end of this year.
The money voters approved will pay for the libraries’ construction, plus the acquisition of books and other materials. But it won’t pay for staffing and other operating expenses. That’s expected to cost $5 million a year.
Since 2009 Fulton has cut library spending by 19 percent, or nearly $5.9 million cumulative, as the Great Recession squashed real estate values and county property tax revenue.
The latest spending cuts will require Fulton to trim total library hours from 1,562 a week in 2013 to 996 this year. That’s still more than libraries in Cobb (704 hours), DeKalb (927 hours) and Gwinnett (750).
Fulton plans to lay off 70 part-time employees at libraries and eliminate about 50 full-time jobs, some of them vacant. Interim library director Anne Haimes said some of those employees may be hired back as new libraries begin to open this summer.
Haimes said spending on books and other materials will be cut by $700,000 this year, and reduced hours and staffing will affect programming.
But she said the state’s largest library system is still in relatively good shape.
“It’s still strong,” Haimes said. “We have maintained enough of a materials budget to provide the essentials.”
Collins agreed. The Dogwood branch provides a variety of educational, financial and children’s programs.
“Initially, I was not happy about (reduced hours),” she said. “However, we still have enough to work with.”
Still, the search for ways to pay for the new libraries isn’t over. The commission will have to find more money as more libraries open.
Eaves said the real estate recovery could boost county tax revenue. But he said Fulton will continue to seek ways to “do the most we can with what we have.”
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