Two Fulton County commissioners proposed changing the way the annual budget is drafted, and they wrote legislation that made them the only two county commissioners to serve on a new group that will draw up the billion-dollar budget this year.
The legislation passed with four votes in favor and one abstention Wednesday.
Commissioners Bob Ellis and Khadijah Abdur-Rahman sponsored the legislation, which creates a four-person “budget commission” that will get the first crack at drafting the county’s spending plan. The county manager and chief financial officer will serve on the newly created board with Ellis and Abdur-Rahman.
The legislation renders outgoing board members Dana Barrett and Marvin S. Arrington Jr. ineligible to sit on the new group because their terms end this year. The legislation also effectively prevents the county’s new members — the incoming chairperson, along with either three or four new commissioners who will take office in January — from sitting on the group next year.
The new group will begin work on the 2027 budget next month.
Mo Ivory, a Democrat who is heavily favored in the chairman’s race against Republican Eric Tatum, was not happy about the legislation.
“I just think it’s another move by this commission to try to strip as much power as they can from what will be a transitional new chair and … commission, which could consist of five new commissioners potentially,” Ivory told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I see it for exactly what it is.”
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Barrett, who opted to run for Georgia Secretary of State this year, characterized the legislation as a political move by Ellis and Abdur-Rahman to offset the loss of influence they will experience when Chairman Robb Pitts leaves office at the end of this year. Pitts lost in the Democratic primary runoff election to Ivory.
Barrett said Pitts’ exit will end what she characterized as a four-person majority voting bloc made up of Ellis, Abdur-Rahman, Pitts and Bridget Thorne.
“It’s totally self-serving,” Barrett said to the AJC, referring to the budget commission legislation. “And I believe we are looking at two commissioners concerned that they will not be in the voting bloc that is making all the decisions for the county.”
Ellis, in an interview Tuesday, brushed aside her comments, saying Barrett enjoys playing the role of critic but has “not offered up an alternative proposal that she’s built consensus on to get passed, to get that changed.”
“Nothing about this is self-serving,” Ellis said. “I’ve rolled up my sleeves and got into budgetary stuff for the past 12 years.”
Abdur-Rahman declined to comment after Wednesday’s board meeting.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Ellis said the newly created group will add “good commissioner input into the process early to have a better recognition of the board’s priorities and will help the county manager and CFO to prioritize and vet competing priorities.”
The county’s budget process had included a budget commission from 1953 to 2016, when the Georgia General Assembly repealed a law, which had the effect of authorizing Fulton to establish its own budget ordinance, according to the legislation.
A 2016 Fulton County budget ordinance maintained the use of a budget commission made up of the chair of the Board of Commissioners, the county manager and the CFO.
In 2018, the board replaced the budget commission with a process under which the county manager solely creates and submits the proposed budget but must include budget requests from all county departments, elected officials and others.
Wednesday’s legislation included a new resolution, an amendment to the county code, a new code section and repeals a conflicting resolution.
Pitts, Thorne, Ellis and Abdur-Rahman voted in favor, Arrington abstained and Barrett left the meeting before the vote.
The legislation calls for the budget commission to submit a proposed budget each year by Nov. 15. The full board can then amend the budget but must adopt a spending plan no later than the second regular meeting in January.
“I think it allows the communication and the information to flow in what direction it needs to flow, but also it protects the integrity of the process,” Abdur-Rahman said in Wednesday’s meeting. “For me, that’s what’s most important.”
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