By Patrick Fox
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County passed its annual budget Tuesday but not without some sparks flying.
The $1.33 billion spending plan calls for restoring some emergency service allocations cut in the wake of last year’s budget shortfalls. They include adding 58 police positions, opening three fire stations and stabilizing EMS services.
Expenditures also include staffing for the new Hamilton Mill Library without closing any of the county’s 14 other neighborhood branches. The library system will receive enough funding to operate all branches about 50 hours a week, as opposed to the current 43 hours.
Recreation is one of the biggest beneficiaries, with funding increasing $9.8 million from last year.
The County Commission approved a 21 percent increase in the county’s portion of property taxes. The measure, passed on a 4-1 vote Dec. 1, will generate more than $70 million in additional revenue on residential real estate this year. District 3 Commissioner Mike Beaudreau cast the only dissenting vote.
Beaudreau dissented again Tuesday, objecting to late modifications. In particular, he protested shifting $1.2 million in capital improvement funding from Harbins Park southeast of Dacula to Lilburn’s Lions Club Park. The money will come from special purpose sales tax revenue.
Harbins, with 1,960 acres, opened in March. Plans called for engineering work to be done this year so that football, soccer and baseball fields could be built, as well as facilities used by the Archer Athletic Association. Instead, the money will be used to improve the Lilburn park.
Beaudreau called the action political payback from Commission Chairman Charles Bannister, who had remarked Dec. 1 that some politicians voted against tax increases but enjoyed the benefits provided.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution