Fulton County leaders agreed Wednesday to spend millions of dollars to upgrade buildings, pave roads and add new police officers in the unincorporated areas.
The $937 million budget also increased spending on tuberculosis prevention, improves security at arts centers and parks and provides for dash and body cameras for officers.
While decreasing the millage rate in the unincorporated area from 11.781 mills to 10.5 mills, the county’s general fund spending is up 10.3 percent, to $651.4 million, from what was spent in 2015. The rates for incorporated areas vary by municipality.
In passing the budget, leaders praised the transparency and ease of working together as, for the first time, the county shifted the way it allocates money. Now, commissioners’ aim is to spend money on items that will have a demonstrable impact on residents. In the past, money was spent just because it had been spent before, county manager Dick Anderson said.
“The overall focus on impacts and outcomes is reflected in this budget,” said Vice Chairman Liz Hausmann. “The consensus is that we’re all moving in the right direction. We’re working well together.”
After years of contentious budget disputes, Fulton leaders passed the budget unanimously last year. This year, the vote was 6-1 with the lone dissenter, Commissioner Lee Morris, saying he had been prepared to approve the budget as presented, before a last-minute change was added.
Most last-minute additions were stymied, but one proposal picked up steam. Midway through the budget discussion, Commissioner Emma Darnell brought up the issue of 549 full-time county employees who she said were “below the food-stamp level.”
“We don’t have justice in the budget today,” she said.
A county spokesperson confirmed that there are 549 full-time employees who make less than $31,000 a year, but said she could not confirm whether any were on public assistance.
Commissioners agreed to set aside $2 million in a contingency fund for potential raises, but did not want to promise that workers would get them until they studied the specific circumstances further. Commissioner Joan Garner said she had met with several employees who work in departments where people come in seeking public assistance, while they are eligible for it.
To not increase pay, Commissioner Marvin Arrington said, is "hypocritical" since one of the county tenants is for all people to be self-sufficient.
“We’ve got to make sure we take care of our people,” he said.
But the lack of details about the employees is what kept Morris from voting for the budget, he said. Last year, a poorly stated motion led workers to believe they were getting a raise when they were not. He said he did not want that same confusion again.
Still, Morris said, he was largely pleased with the budget approved by the county.
“It’s a compromise,” he said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it’s well done. It leaves us flexibility.”
One of the compromises had to do with $5 million commissioners set aside to study justice reform. They are looking for ways to reduce the jail population, and to divert some people out of the system altogether, such as through improved mental health programs. The $5 million set aside from the courts' budgets was originally supposed to be twice that, but some money was returned to the courts for 2016 so accountability programs wouldn't be jeopardized.
“It’s a great start,” Fulton Chairman John Eaves said of the money. “It might not be enough.”
