Georgia County Government - April 2009 - (Page 28) DEKALB COUNTY continued from page 25 necessary cuts to create a balanced budget,” Ellis notes. He re-emphasizes his goal to bolster public safety, an area of operation which will see the lion’s share of funding for 2009. Regarding his mission to get public safety in DeKalb where he believes it needs to be, as mandated by DeKalb citizens, he remains singleminded in his focus. “We cannot continue to do things the same old way, and expect different results. Crime is going up, and the costs of dealing with crime are, too. We have to try some different things, in this economic climate.” Ellis goes on to describe how, within NACo, county leaders look at “best practices” and that the coordinated approach to public safety is one of those modalities. He believes that if a county wants to curb steeply rising spending in public safety, circumventing crime through adequate staffing and funding of police is absolutely key. Ellis also reiterates his impetus to include “every individual in the county” who wants to participate in “building a better DeKalb.” DeKalb is healthy financially. The county is among only 37 out of more than 3,000 nationally to hold a triple-A bond credit rating from Moody’s rating service. “We must coordinate, we must cooperate, and we must collaborate for DeKalb’s best future,” he avers. Most of all, Ellis believes a “spirit of true and meaningful unity” will be integral to the government’s success. He describes “meaningful unity” as unity of “constituency, of mission, aspirations and purpose.” The 1-cent HOST will continue to fund capital improvements Ellis points out. “This tax has enabled us to build many facilities, make many improvements that we couldn’t otherwise have in DeKalb,” he notes. But he adds that, whereas the HOST has heretofore allocated 80 percent of its proceeds back to county property taxpayers in the form of a “rebate” on property taxes – leaving 20 percent for county infrastructure and capital outlay needs – incorporation of the city of Dunwoody will impact the way the HOST is handled from here on out. “The incorporation of Dunwoody would have raised property taxes eighttenths of a mil,” Ellis explains. “But the county will ‘neutralize’ that impact by reallocating to property tax breaks 90 percent of HOST funds, in lieu of 80 percent, leaving 10 percent for infrastructure maintenance and capital outlay.” With so much already accomplished in terms of capital improvements, the county will be stressed meeting the demands of growth, and wear and tear on aging infrastructure will certainly persist, but the county is prepared to offset this as needed by streamlining spending – the way other local governments, and other levels of government, are also doing, he notes. DEKALB COUNTY continued on page 30 28 GEORGIA COUNTY GOVERNMENT http://www.pfm.com
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