As Cobb County officials talk about raising the property tax rate for the first time in five years, public pressure is rising for the county to explain its current hiring policy.
Cobb has been under a hiring freeze since 2007, at least according to all of the county’s published information and financial updates.
But within the past two years, the freeze -- which exempted hiring for public safety and Sheriff’s Office positions -- seems to have thawed. The county has hired new employees and in some cases, employees who had taken an early retirement package were rehired on a part-time basis.
Whether the county's hiring is officially frozen and to what extent is of even greater interest as the county is considering a 16 percent increase in its property tax rate. The County Commission is scheduled to vote July 26 on the tax increase.
“The freeze should be a real freeze,” said Lance Lamberton, president of the Cobb Taxpayers Association.
In Tuesday's newspaper, the AJC takes a close look at Cobb County's hiring freeze. It's a story you'll get only by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper's iPad app . Subscribe today .
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