Proposed Cobb FY 2021 budget of $473M includes no pay raises

Proposed Cobb FY 21 budget — *For a larger view, **click here**. Source: Cobb Finance Office*

The proposed fiscal year 2021 Cobb government general fund budget revealed Monday is $1.8 million less than the current budget and does not include pay raises for county employees.

During a Cobb Board of Commissioners work session, assistant county finance director Buddy Tesar outlined the proposals that include no new positions, continuing a restricted hiring process and that call for steep reductions in capital expenses.

The $473 million budget proposal holds the line on the current general fund property tax rate of 8.66 mills and assumes a flat tax digest after increases of more than three percent in each of the last two years.

The overall Cobb government budget—which includes separate funds for fire and emergency services, debt service, capital expenses, the hotel-motel tax and other categories—is proposed to be $732.897 million, slightly less than the current $732.998 million.

(You can read a summary of the budget proposal here.)

The first public hearing on the proposed budget will take place at the commissioners’ regular meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The meeting takes place in the second-floor board room of the Cobb government office building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta. You also can watch here or here or on the county’s public access outlet, Channel 23 on Comcast.

*For a larger view, **click here**. Source: Cobb Financial Office*

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has been saying since the COVID-19 outbreak that he would not be proposing merit raises but he wants to continue the county’s STEP salary and grade program for public safety employees initiated last year.

The general fund is funded with property tax revenues, and revenue from them in the the FY 2021 general fund budget is projected to be $306 million, up from the current $302 million.

That reflects a small bump in the tax digest, although the millage rate will not be going up. Under state law, that counts as a tax increase, and commissioners are required to hold three public hearings.

Other hearings will take place on July 21 and on July 28, when commissioners are scheduled to adopt the budget.

Personnel costs in the proposed budget would rise from $296.4 million to $316.6 million.

Contingency spending also would go down sharply, from $18 million currently to only $3 million in fiscal year 2021.

Around $12.7 million of that contingency was spent on a four-percent merit increase for county employees, and an additional seven-percent for public safety employees, as commissioners addressed staffing and retention concerns for police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.

In addition, the economic fallout from COVID-19 closures has produced a steep drop in hotel-motel tax revenues that help the county pay off bond debt for Truist Park.

The proposed hotel-motel tax revenues are $9.9 million, down from the current $17.5 million.

The total proposed for bond stadium debt service is the same as the fiscal year 2020 total of $22.4 million, and would include transfers from other capital service funds. No transfer funding from the hotel-motel tax is included in the budget proposal.

An additional $732,000 in property tax revenues also would be shifted into the stadium debt service fund.

Other revenue losses factored into the budget proposal include cuts of $1.7 million in fines and forfeiture, due to a curtailed court calendar since the virus, as well as a $910,000 loss in licensing and permitting revenue.

The additional personnel costs include increases in pension and health-care costs.