The month of June has been scheduled for Cobb budget meetings and a series of town halls, starting June 18 at the East Cobb Senior Center.
UPDATE: Cobb chairman proposes revised budget, keeping parks and libraries open
But before that, the Board of Commissioners will gather next week for a budget retreat.
That meeting is next Tuesday, June 12, at 1 p.m. in the Hudgins Hall Conference/Multipurpose Room of the Cobb County Civic Center (548 South Marietta Parkway).
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has advocated raising the millage rate on property taxes as a way for the county to continue to deliver what he calls “five-star” services.
The county government is facing an estimated deficit for fiscal year 2019 of at least $30 million.
Related coverage
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- Boyce: Deficit reveals ‘the painful truth’
- Seniors sound off on proposed fee increases
Boyce has initially suggested a millage increase of 1.1 mills (which would generate an extra $30 million in revenue) to the current general fund rate of 6.76.
In his weekly video update with county communications director Ross Cavitt (view below), he said that “1.1 mills just puts the finger in the dike.”
A full proposal to fund a balanced budget hasn’t been presented. However, the head of the county library system has proposed cutting nearly a quarter of the system’s $12 million budget and closing the East Cobb Library.
East Cobb’s commissioners generally have opposed property tax increases. Bob Ott of District 2 has said that he wouldn’t support an increase without seeing substantial cuts first. JoAnn Birrell of District 3 won her GOP primary last week after publicly opposing raising property taxes.
In the video, Boyce showed charts illustrating how Cobb’s millage rate has steadily come down over the last 25 or so years, being raised to address the recession. Two years ago, then-chairman Tim Lee, facing Boyce in a runoff, proposed an overall millage rate reduction to 9.85 (and 6.66 for the general fund) that passed, with Ott and Birrell voting with him.
“We have had a lower millage rate although our population has increased by more than 300,000” since the 1990s, Boyce said.
The town hall meetings are scheduled around the county, including another in East Cobb on July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
Commissioners will hold public hearings on the budget and millage rate on July 10, 27 and 25, with adoption of both scheduled for July 25.
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