In appearing before various constituent groups months ahead of time, Mike Boyce has been increasingly blunt about the Cobb budget deficit, which is expected to be at least $30 million for fiscal year 2019.
UPDATE: Cobb chairman proposes revised budget, keeping parks and libraries open
Earlier this month, the Cobb commission chairman told a few hundred (mostly) upset seniors at the East Cobb Senior Center about the need for rising fees for county services to the elderly, “because we’re all in this together.”
Earlier this week, Boyce met with members of the East Cobb Business Association and delivered a similar message. In what’s becoming something of a stump speech early in the budget season (the FY 2019 budget doesn’t go into effect until October), Boyce continued to sharpen his tone and implore citizens to be vocal and get engaged with the process.
“We have finally shown the reality of what the shortfall is,” Boyce said in remarks at the ECBA’s monthly luncheon at the Olde Towne Athletic Club.
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Bringing pie charts and listings of wants and needs, Boyce reiterated his belief that the current general fund millage rate of 6.76—which yielded revenues of $405 million for the current fiscal year 2018—is not sufficient if Cobb is to remain what he calls “a five-star county.”
After Cobb commissioners used contingency money to close a $20 million gap for FY 2018, there aren’t many more sources to tap. Additional needs call for hiring more police officers, among other increases in spending.
Starting his second year in office, Boyce, an East Cobb resident, has said he “wants to get ahead of the story” in shaping the budget picture as clearly as possible.
“Now is the time we have to pay the bills,” he said.
Last year, he tried to get commissioners to approve a 0.13 mill increase to fund the 2008 Cobb parks bond referendum, but was rejected.
Getting approval for a property tax increase to address the widening budget gap might seem unlikely, but on Monday East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott—who uniformly opposes tax increases—opened the door, at least slightly, to such a possibility.
In an article published for the InsiderAdvantage political newsletter, Ott said he opposed a millage rate increase “without cuts in services that are not mandated or essential to county operations.”
Those include senior programs, parks and libraries, which are on a long list of “desired” services that could face significant reductions for FY 2019.
During last year’s budget deliberations, Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell suggested closing the East Cobb Library, the second-busiest branch in the Cobb system. That never came to fruition, but East Cobb residents who spoke out against that proposal remain concerned.
One of those East Cobb Library supporters, Rachel Slomovitz, has started an online petition in support of a millage increase with the libraries in mind, and thus far has more than 600 signatures.
She estimates her proposal would cost taxpayers an additional $25 a year to avoid the possibility of up to $3 million in cuts (roughly a quarter of the library system’s entire budget) and closing multiple branches.
Ott further explained in the InsiderAdvantage piece that at a commissioners budget retreat last fall, he and a colleague worked up a budget solution with a $55 million deficit baseline and balanced that with non-essential program cuts, fee increases and a 0.5 millage rate increase.
That 0.5 mills would yield $14 million, by Ott’s calculation. He concluded by writing that after “desired” cuts were made and required spending was approved, and “if the essential list is not completely funded” with the present millage rate, “only then would I consider a tax increase.”
Boyce said he read Ott’s article and found it constructive and useful.
“How we’re going to get [to a resolution] is the next part of the problem,” Boyce told the ECBA attendees. “It’s a painful truth, but we’ve got to start telling the truth.”
Boyce will deliver his State of the County address to the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Monday morning.
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