Under Lee's New Plan, Libraries Would Be Safe

Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee told the other members of the board at Monday's work session that he has an alternative budget-cut plan that doesn't include eliminating libraries and senior centers. Under his initial plan, the  is one of four libraries that would remain open.

Lee didn't provide details but promised to meet with the individual commissioners throughout the afternoon. The board's regular meeting is at 9 a.m. 

The Marietta Daily Journal says Lee’s proposal to close the estimated $31 million-plus deficit this fiscal year would shut down 13 of 17 county libraries, three senior centers, two swimming pools and the

Also, services would be cut back, and each county department would have to cut its budget by 3.5 percent. The millage rate would rise by 0.5 mil for the fire fund, costing the owner of a $200,000 home $40 a year.

The county has gotten more than 3,000 emails from residents opposed to the chairman's , a county spokesman said. Today, citizens  for a silent protest in support of keeping the libraries open.

Commissioners are expected to enact a plan this morning to eliminate the for fiscal 2011, which runs through Sept. 30. Sinking property values, now expected to fall 7 percent on average in this year’s assessments, have produced the budget gap.

The tax increase would defy the consensus the commission reached on March 22 after a budget work session, when only West Cobb Commissioner Helen Goreham spoke in favor of considering raising taxes.

East Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott held two town-hall meetings on the budget recently and did not waver in his opposition to a tax increase.

“What we have to do once again is make sure we are using our assets as efficiently as possible,” Ott said Wednesday night at a meeting in Smyrna. “You have to look at the cost of the services being provided and are we giving something away, because we just can't afford to do that anymore.”

Ott floated the idea of alternating opening days for libraries near each other, but he did not talk about closing libraries.

He said he spent Wednesday going through the budget suggestions submitted by the public, “and by far the most comments are on libraries."

"I would say generally the comments are that during these hard economic times, it's where people can go look for jobs, get on the Internet," he said. "There are a lot of services and I think the board recognizes that.”

Helen Poyer, director of the Cobb County Public Library System, sent out an email Thursday to library supporters, urging them to lobby commissioners to protect the libraries. 

The board is under no obligation to enact any of Lee’s plans but needs to take some kind of action on the budget today.

One option to attack the deficit is to furlough the county’s 4,239 full-time workers, rather than giving each department the option to decide how to cut a certain amount. Each furlough day is worth $671,871 for the general fund, Finance Director James Pehrson said last month.

To put that in perspective, two furlough days would save about the same amount of money as closing the 13 libraries for five months.