TO: FROM: SUBJECT:

Residents of DeKalb District 3 and DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson DeKalb County Budget

The County started the year with a $37M deficit --- due to the plunging property values and an overall decrease in the tax digest. This has negatively impacted the main source of revenue that the County (and all municipalities across the country) has available. With the State law recently passed that allows including foreclosed properties in the equation when valuing properties, this has hit South DeKalb hardest. The lions share of the foreclosures are in South DeKalb and as a result you are seeing this area hit hardest with property values plummeting at much higher percentages than other areas of the county. What this means in simple termsthere is less money coming in than originally forecast by the Finance Department. Although service needs/requirements remain the same the amount of money needed to provide those services is much, much less than anticipated. The revenues streams available to the county are at 2005 levels --- although we have 2011 service levels. Add to this $37M hole that the county has to work to fill in order to keep the lights on, is the recent Court ruling on the lawsuit that the cities filed regarding HOST. Although the Court ruled that DeKalb DOES NOT have to pay the cities for any back HOST proceeds, the County does have to, from this point forward, remit to the cities HOST proceeds collected beginning next year (2012). This is an estimated $4.5M that now has to be found somewhere in the budget in a budget already operating at a shortfall. The Administration is proposing an estimated 4.50 millage rage increase for DeKalb County. Attached is information provided to the Board of Commissioners relative to this proposed increase and I am passing this on to you for your information and dissemination. Also attached for your review is the 2011 Budget that the Board adopted. This adopted Budget represented a 33% across-the-board reduction in the CEOs recommended budget. The Board of Commissioners is still deliberating the recommendation by the CEO of a 4.50 millage rate increase and the Board is still asking for a five-year reorganization plan along with recommendations for increased use of technology to streamline day-to-day operations. I urge you to take the time to read through the attached information especially the mid-year budget adjustment recommendations provided by the CEO to the Board as this is what the Board is reviewing and having to make decision on to ensure continued operation of the county and to work towards restoring the credit worthiness of the county which will work to regain our former AAA+ bond rating. The next Public Hearing on the CEOs recommendations will take place, Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at the upcoming Board of Commissioners meeting. The meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. You are urged to attend the Board of Commissioners meeting, Tuesday, July 12, 2011 to voice your opinion.

Please note that the challenges before the Board are: (1) a depressed economy and significantly reduced revenues coming from property taxes (because of devaluation of properties) and a reduction in the sales tax revenues --- people are not buying as much as they cannot afford to due to reduced hours at their places of employment or lay-offs and or general cutting back to conserve funds; (2) the services required by the residents of DeKalb cannot be maintained at the present levels with the reduced revenues; Please know that I am working diligently with the other Commissioners to find solutions to these challenges before us and welcome any and all recommendations from the community regarding ways to increase revenues. In closing, I would like to remind you that the property owners who wish to appeal their assessments have until July 11, 2011 to submit their appeal to the Property Appraisal Department http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/PropertyAppraisal/appeal.html Click on the link that will take you to their website for instructions on how to file your appeal. Again, Tuesday, July 12, 2011 is the public hearing on the budget and the meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. in the Maloof Auditorium, 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur, GA 30030.