PRESS CONTACTS:

DEKALB COUNTY Shelia Edwards

Chief Communications Officer
Phone: 404-371-6305
W. Burrell Ellis, Jr. Cell: 404-964-0155
Angela Walton
Chief Executive Officer Communications Manager
NEWS RELEASE Phone: 404-371-3688
Cell: 404-964-0357

FEBRUARY 22, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CEO BURRELL ELLIS AMENDS THE

2010 RECOMMENDED BUDGET
Amendment Document Sent to the Board of Commissioners

DECATUR – CEO Burrell Ellis amended his 2010 Recommended Executive Budget and
delivered copies today to members of the Board of Commissioners. The amendment comes at
the conclusion of an unprecedented 12 neighborhood budget gatherings that CEO Ellis and
Commissioner Connie Stokes, Chair of the Commission’s Budget & Finance Committee, co-
hosted in order to facilitate face-to-face conversations with citizens throughout DeKalb County
regarding the 2010 budget.

“After listening to concerns raised by citizens and members of the Board of Commissioners, I
have submitted an amendment to the Board that reflects many of the concerns that were raised,”
says CEO Ellis. CEO Ellis’s 2010 Amended Recommended Budget:

1. Identifies $6.7 million in new revenue sources other than taxes.

2. Reduces the millage increase of 1.86 mills contained in the December 15, 2009
Recommended Budget by .78 mills to 1.08 mills, an approximate $35.50 annual tax
increase on an average value home in DeKalb County.
3. Eliminates the proposed 1% Merit Increment for 2010.
4. Eliminates the pension contribution increase of .5%.
5. Increases the utilization of H.O.S.T. proceeds to 99.9% for homestead exemption.
6. Reduces the amount budgeted for Pensioners’ Group Health and Life Insurance.
7. Restores funding for the State Court, Superior Court, Clerk of Superior Court,
Juvenile Court, Magistrate Court, Probate Court, Public Defender, Child Advocate, and
Solicitor General’s offices.
8. Maintains funding for the Sheriff and District Attorney’s offices at the levels initially
set forth in the initial Recommended Budget.
9. Increases the budgets of the Law Department and the Tax Commissioner’s office.
10. Reduces funding in the CEO’s Office in the amount of $320,354 (which continues
reductions in the CEO’s Office undertaken last year) and increases funding in the Marshall’s
Office by the same amount.

The total change as a result of the appropriation changes is a decrease of the Budget of
$4,454,223, from $582,742,150 to $578,287,927.

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Department of Communications, Clark Harrison Building, 330 W. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur, GA 30030
www.co.dekalb.ga.us