Newspaper Page Text
LOCAL
THURSDAY, JULY 5- 11, 2018 • Page 6
COUNTY WIDE
Attorney General:
"The citizens of
deserve better"
BY HORACE HOLLOMAN
horace@dekalbchamp.com
In February during a board
of commissioners meeting,
without public comment or
being listed as an agenda item,
DeKalb County commissioners
in a 5-1 vote gave themselves
approximately a 60-percent
raise.
According to county
officials, most DeKalb
County commissioners make
approximately $40,000 a year.
The proposal would increase
commissioner’s annual, part-
time salary to approximately
$65,000.
After DeKalb County
residents appealed the
proposal, stating it violates
state law, Attorney General
Chris Carr issued his opinion
on the proposal.
“The actions of the board of
commissioners in this instance
fell short of the obligations
imposed by the open meetings
act, which are designed to
ensure that the public’s trust
in its elected officials is not
misplaced as they carry out
the people’s business,” Carr
wrote. “The citizens of DeKalb
County deserve better.”
According to Carr,
DeKalb County attorney
Viviane Ernstes said putting
a salary ordinance on the
Feb. 27 agenda would “likely
create confusion amongst
stakeholders and the public
concerning which entity
had the authority to increase
salaries.”
Carr noted the county
published notices in The
Champion informing the
public that a salary ordinance
passed by the county
commision was a possibility.
“Nothing in the [open
meetings] act suggests that
a governing body should
withhold information from
the public in order to avoid
potential ‘confusion’ and
in this case it appears that
the proffered explanation of
potential confusion is a post
DeKalb
hoc rationalization trying to
justify a vote that contravened
the requirements of the open
meetings act,” Carr wrote.
DeKalb County
residents Faye Coffield
and Ed Williams filed a
complaint with the attorney
general’s office against the
commissioners.
During public comment
at a board of commissioners
meeting June 26, Coffield said
she was disappointed in the
commissioners’ actions.
“We have a police
department that is in criss,”
Coffield said. “We have some
of the best officers in the
state, but you are no longer
competing with Atlanta and
Dunwody. You expect police
officers to defend us making
$40,000, but you said you
could not live off of that part
time.”
Coffield, a former police
officer, said DeKalb County
officials should pay police and
fire personnel $50,000 as a
starting salary.
fs/iS
DeKalb County Government
MANUEL J. MALOOF
CENTER
Administration Building & Auditorium
1300 Commerce Drive
Decatur. Georgia
Michael L. Thurmond,
Chief Executive Officer
Board of Commissioners
District 1 - Nancy Jester
District 2 - Jeff Rader
District 3 - Larry Johnson
District 4 - Steve Bradshaw
District 5 - Mereda Davis Johnson
District 6 - Kathie Gannon
District 7 - Gregory Adams
1
Attorney General Chris Carr said a vote to increase the salaries of DeKalb County
commissioners violated state law, Feb. 27.
“You want to pay these
people less than they could
make at the QuikTrip [gas
station], QuikTrip starts their
employees at [$43,000] with
benefits,” Coffield said.
Williams also expressed
his disappointment in
commissioners’ actions.
Commissioner Nancy Jester
was the lone nay vote for the
salary increase.
“The citizens of DeKalb
County deserve better. We
expect you all to abide by the
organization act,” Williams
said. “What you all did on
Feb. 27 was illegal. There’s
a failure of leadership in the
board of commissioners and
CEO’s office.”
Clarkston discusses proposed millage rate
BY CARLA PARKER
carla@dekalbchamp.com
Clarkston city staff is
recommending the city council
adopt a 15.89 millage rate for
the 2018 fiscal year.
The city held two public
hearings June 27 on the
proposed millage rate. City
officials said the current 2018
projected net tax digest for the
city is $166,912,767, which is a
2.2 percent increase from 2017 s
net tax digest ($163,285,508).
City Manager Keith Barker
said the calculated rollback
millage rate for 2018—the
rate for the city to receive
the same tax amount as last
year—is 15.475 mils. The
rollback millage rate for 2018
is lower than the 2017 adopted
millage rate of 15.89 mils due
to an increase in the net digest,
according to city officials.
“The mathematical millage
rate required to balance the
budget is 17.276 mils,” Barker
said.
Barker said city staff
recommends that city council
adopt a millage rate of 15.89
mils for the 2018 fiscal year and
grant a 3 percent across-the-
board salary adjustment for
all eligible employees effective
Sept. 1,2018.
“If [city council] desires to
adopt a millage rate that does
not include an increase, then
we can system that by making
some budgetary cuts that really
wont impact services,” Barker
said.
Barker said if the city
council wanted to adopt the
same millage rate for 2017 fiscal
year, city staff would have to
reduce the 2018 budget by an
amount that equals 1.456 mills.
“So, what we’ve done
as a staff is identify some
proposed adjustments to the
2018 budget,” he said. “We
could hold off on purchasing a
public works truck. There is a
vacant court position that we
are currently analyzing to see
whether we need to fill that
position, so we recommend that
position not be filled for the rest
of the fiscal year.”
Barker also said the city
has a vacant code enforcement
position and recommends
to not fill that position if city
council wants to keep the
millage rate the same.
“If the city council wants
to trim the budget in order to
adopt the millage rate as is and
not increase it, we could do
that with some prudent budget
adjustments,” Barker said. “The
city council could take those
budget savings, and in addition
to that, grant a 3 percent salary
adjustment, and you can still
adopt a balanced budget with a
15.89 millage rate.”
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