Cobb public safety crisis

Cobb 2020 budget proposal is $474.8M with public safety raises

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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.Cobb County logo, Cobb 2017 elections

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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Commissioners pressed to ‘take action’ now to address Cobb public safety ‘crisis’

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As the organizer of annual dinners to honor Cobb public safety personnel, Susan Hampton is now taking an active role to appreciate them far beyond giving them one special evening out of the year.

Susan Hampton, Cobb public safety crisis
Susan Hampton speaking at a town hall meeting at the Sewell Mill Library on March 4. (ECN file)

Over the last month or so, the East Cobb resident has shown up at all but one of Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s 14 budget town hall meetings to speak about what she and others have said is a “crisis” in staffing, pay, benefits and retention for county police, firefighters, EMS personnel and sheriff’s deputies.

She worked up a flyer to hand out to citizens at the town hall meetings, fraught with warnings about how Cobb is struggling to fill many openings, and is losing experienced personnel to other jurisdictions.

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On Tuesday, she and more than a dozen citizens and Cobb public safety employees demanded that the Cobb Board of Commissioners act quickly not just to improve pay and benefits, but to get more aggressive in filling those vacancies, especially in a competitive market for experienced public safety workers in metro Atlanta.

“Each of you says public safety is number one and you are committed to solving the problem,” she told commissioners at their packed meeting in downtown Marietta.

“Then you say you’re only one vote . . . The problem is 10 years old, and it’s getting worse.”

She noted that already in 2019, 25 police officers have resigned or will be leaving soon, and “at this rate, we will lose over 100 officers this year. . . . There is a public safety crisis in Cobb County.”

Hampton, a vice president at the Fidelity Bank branch on Johnson Ferry Road, is co-chair of the East Cobb Business Association’s annual dinner for officers in East Cobb’s Precinct 4, as well as for the entire Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department.

Cobb public safety crisis
Hampton’s flyer spelling out public safety staffing, salary and retention concerns. Click here for larger view.

Most of her community activism is with ECBA, as well as the East Cobb Lions Club, and other organizations. She’s also a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year for her long-time civic leadership.

“I’m just a concerned citizen that loves Cobb County,” she said.

On Tuesday, she urged commissioners to use some of the $10 million she estimated in pay and benefits that’s available from 211 current openings “immediately” for pay increases, retirement and retention bonuses, and other initiatives to address staffing issues.

She also advocated the creation of a special taxing district for police that’s similar to how Cobb Fire is funded.

“If the city of Atlanta” can address some its public safety staffing concerns, Hampton said, to a rousing chorus of laughter in the room from many of those in uniform, “then why can’t Cobb County?”

Af the end of the meeting, Commissioner Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb acknowledged Hampton, telling the public safety employees on hand that “she has been out there advocating for you.”

In recent weeks, those concerned about public safety staffing have spoken out to the commissioners, but Tuesday’s turnout was the strongest yet, as a formal budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 is pending.

Some expressed frustration that the while the budget reflected public cries to enhance library hours and expand greenspace, public safety issues have been overshadowed.

Steven Gaynor, head of the Cobb chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said every area of the police department is understaffed, but Precinct 4 in East Cobb “is the least-staffed,” with eight officers for 10 beats.

He said Cobb Police can’t wait for the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget process to address the shortages, and called for “emergency action now.”

Matt Babcock, who lives in District 3 in Northeast Cobb, had been a Cobb firefighter for 10 years until he resigned last month, because he needs “a better paycheck and retirement.” He said “chronic short staffing,” including 80 current open positions, “is a danger to the county.”

He said many engines are staffed with three and not the recommended four firefighters. Many of his former colleagues, Babcock said, “are not sticking around because they don’t see there’s a future in Cobb.”

Cobb budget town hall, Mike Boyce
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s fiscal year 2019 budget calls for the hiring of additional police officers, but more are leaving than can be replaced. (ECN file)

East Cobb attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents many law enforcement officers, told commissioners that in spite of numerous calls in recent years to address public safety staffing issues, “your responses have been weak and demonstrate a lack of leadership.”

Ott and other commissioners addressed the dozen or so speakers and said they’re working to address the staffing concerns but don’t have a specific solution for the moment.

“We hear you, we hear your concerns,” said commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in Northeast Cobb. “We have made improvements over the years, but it’s not enough. We’re working on options to come forward in the near future.”

Boyce took exception to LoRusso’s comments, and said voting to improve parks and library services doesn’t mean commissioners don’t care about public safety.

“To say that this board doesn’t care is offensive,” Boyce said. “We do care. . . You are a voice. You are here tonight because deep down you know we are going to fix the problem.”

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