Clairmont Heights Civic Association

From commissioner Jeff Rader: I'm pleased to report that the millage rate for DeKalb citizens this year is the same as last year. The rate became official in late June with the passage of the county's mid-year budget adjustments. (NOTE: The millage rate set by the county government accounts for about one-third of your property taxes while the rate for the other two-thirds is set by the county school system.)

From the time the county CEO introduced his proposed 2010 budget, including a millage rate increase, last December, it has been my goal to avoid a property tax increase. In this weak economic environment, it seemed imprudent to burden citizens with a tax increase.

Instead, my fellow county commissioners and I have insisted that the county tighten its belt, like most families, by reducing its spending. The 2010 budget, as it was passed in February, cut county spending by $17 million from the previous year.

When revenue projections were updated in June, there was nearly a $9 million shortfall forecast for the current year. However, this forecast deficit has been offset by $13 million in salary savings from an early retirement offer to county employees. [NOTE: State law requires the county to operate under a balanced budget.]

The early retirement offer was anticipated to eliminate about 400 positions but more than 800 employees accepted the offer, including a significant number of experienced personnel in public safety. The $4 million surplus was therefore designated to fill positions deemed critical that were vacated by early retirement. After much scrutiny, the Board of Commissioners (BOC) felt it was prudent for the county to refill some of those vacated positions.

The remaining vacancies may not be refilled without the BOC's authorization, in accordance with a position reduction policy approved by the commission in June. That policy has the effect of locking in the long-term savings created by those vacancies.

The early retirement offer, as approved in February, and its estimated savings was significant in putting together a balanced budget. In hindsight, the offer was too broad, allowing employees, rather than the administration, to decide which positions would be randomly vacated, a point I discussed in a March update (see link at end).

Going forward, there is still justification for appropriate resizing of the county workforce, as underscored by the staffing study prepared last winter by consultants from Georgia State University. As of this writing, the administration has not declared any intent to conduct its own staffing analysis this year.

Instead, the administration has launched a joint committee with the BOC to explore revenue enhancement. Among the options available to them is some combination of increased enforcement, higher fees and new taxes.

Meanwhile, I am chairing the Audit Committee, which is working to structure the office of an internal auditor. The auditor would review departmental efficiencies in staffing and operating procedures, something I discussed in a February update (see link at end).

The increased scrutiny on staffing comes about because the labor costs -- wages and benefits -- account for about 80 percent of the county's budget. Reducing the county workforce will produce significant, long-term savings. However, as evidenced by the experience of the early retirement offer, any such reduction must be done in a deliberate, thoughtful and analytical manner.

Such process requires time, which is why the staffing analysis and budget preparations ought to be more of a year-round activity rather than a hurried race to the finish line. With a mandated March 1 deadline to approve the budget, the BOC did not get its first look at the CEO's proposed budget until December, nor its first look at the CEO's early retirement offer until January. The compressed time frame compromises the BOC's ability to make well-informed, well-reasoned decisions.

In that same time period, the BOC was reviewing preliminary findings from the GSU staffing analysis, which did not begin until late fall after the CEO failed to follow through on its promise last spring to conduct a comparable study. The final report from the staffing study was delivered in April, too late to have meaningful impact on this year's budget, but the report should be used as a discussion tool for the next budget (For more on staffing study in my May update, see link at end).

The BOC should use the absence of any looming time crunch in the summer and fall to engage in dialogue about the budget. At the core of such discussions, the BOC needs to address two fundamental questions. What services should the county provide? What level of services should be provided?

Those two answers will dictate the appropriate staffing level and budgets, in essence putting the horse before the cart. That would be the opposite of the current approach in which the quantity and quality of services are dictated by the available staff and funding.

The temptation is to try to maintain the status quo in the operation of government operation by hoping the economy bounces back or, at the least, remains steady. Indeed, the mid-year budget adjustments proposed by the CEO highlighted the impact on the following services, which generally amount to short-term fixes rather than long-term solutions.

• Close two recreation centers and one swimming pool
• Delay the opening of two library branches
• Reduce road resurfacing projects, adding to future backlog
• Defer some park and building maintenance, adding to future backlog
• Delay mowing cycles in parks
• Reduce level of service for some sanitation pickups

Such short-term fixes amount to postponing this year's fiscal problems until next year. Because there is always a next year, problems can fester until they reach crisis stage, at which point they are apt to require draconian measures.

Short-term fixes may be sufficient to get the county through the current economic malaise, but the county will have squandered an opportunity to engage in fundamental, comprehensive reform at a time when the county can justifiably be compelled by necessity. Otherwise, when the economy invariably bounces back, the county will be back to business as usual.

Links
February Update
http://www.commissionerrader.com/reader-rader-updates/items/commissioner...

March Update
http://www.commissionerrader.com/reader-rader-updates/items/making-diffi...

May Update
http://www.commissionerrader.com/reader-rader-updates/items/staffing-stu...

Commissioner Jeff Rader represents District Two on DeKalb County's Board of Commissioners. He was elected to the position in 2006 for a four-year term.

Our mailing address is:
*jrader@dekalbcounyga.gov*
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