Cobb commissioners on Monday heard an overview of a fiscal year 2020 budget proposal that comes in at $474.8 million and includes a seven-percent salary increase for certified and sworn public safety employees.
Other county employees would receive a pay hike of four percent, according to the briefing that took place at an afternoon work session.
Those raises would cost more than $12 million. Also included in the outline is a proposal for the county to contribute to a supplemental public safety pension plan, which will be an item on Tuesday night’s commissioners’ regular meeting agenda for approval (Meeting agenda can be found here).
Another part of the “retention and recruitment” plan to address public safety concerns includes offering a $5,000 bonus for certified officers (those who have been trained and are experienced elsewhere).
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The $474.8 million proposal represents a 4.8 percent increase from the current fiscal year 2019 budget of $454 million, Cobb finance chief Bill Volckmann told commissioners.
The budget proposal would not include a millage rate increase for the general fund, and assumes tax digest growth of 3.4 percent. Last year, commissioners approved a millage rate increase of 1.7 mills to 8.46 mills for the general fund.
Personnel expenses would increase by $6 million from the current fiscal year (see chart below presented at the work session), with operating costs up $11 million. The contingency projection of $18.5 million reflects an increase of nearly $4 million in the reallocation Cobb receives from the state in title ad valorem tax (TAVT) revenues, following a formula change.
The revised budget draft would also reduce by one percent ($2.2 million) the amount of funding the county borrows from water system revenues for the general fund budget. Currently Cobb borrows around 10 percent (or $22 million) each year, but plans are to gradually reduce that amount by one percent a year.
Also missing from the budget proposal is $850,000 in non-profit funding, which is slated to be eliminated completely.
In addition, the county will eliminate fees for use of senior centers that were imposed last year.
During the commissioners’ discussion, some expressed a desire to approve the seven-percent raise for public safety employees this year, and then take initial steps to implement a step-and-grade plan for fiscal 2021.
That’s a sentiment expressed by new Cobb public safety director Mike Register. But commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, who’s said often that a pay-and-class system is “broken,” wants to start with step-and-grade first.
Commission Chairman Mike Boyce is expected to unveil a formal, more detailed budget on July 8. Commissioners will hold three public hearings on the budget starting July 9.
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