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Politics & Government

Robinson to Commissioners: 'It Looks Like We Don't Get It'

The BOC approved the 2012 budget despite allegations from one commissioner that his colleagues "don't get" or "don't care about" economic development.

The on Thursday approved the county’s budget for 2012 despite opposition from Commissioner Kelly Robinson who told his fellow commissioners that they don’t “get it” or “care” about the county’s economic development.

There is no commitment to economic development in the $105.94 million budget, and the BOC doesn’t have the right focus considering the unemployment rate and number of home foreclosures in the area, Robinson said.

“From that perspective, this budget isn’t optimized,” Robinson said. “It’s not sufficient. It looks like we don’t get it or we don’t care. You have to take a position. There’s no in between.”

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Robinson, the only commissioner voting against the budget, said the county needs to establish a budget that realizes economic development is part of the answer.

“You can go back to this same time last year,” Robinson said. “We had the same conversation about economic development. We think it’s going to be OK without us doing anything. We think it’s going to be status quo. We shouldn’t even be having this conversation. It should have been over 10 minutes ago because economic development should be in there. I’m just highlighting something that we missed.”

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The budget includes around $140,000 for economic development and, while commissioners said they would love to allocate more, every department has taken a hit for the coming year.    

“It’s there,” Commissioner Henry Mitchell said. “Maybe not enough, but it’s there.”

The other four commissioners disagreed with Robinson’s claims that they don’t care about the county’s economic development. Chairman Tom Worthan said it’s not about throwing money at economic development. He said the BOC needs to create an environment that’s attractive to businesses.

“Have we done that?” he said. “I think we have.”

Worthan said Douglas County has doubled its water supply, has a good transportation system and access to the world’s largest airport, and has affordable land and a competitive abatement program.

“Take a look over the last 10 years,” he said. “People are not starting new jobs. But we have over the last 10 years probably created more jobs per capita than any county in the Atlanta region. Recently? No, we haven’t. Neither has anyone else in this country.”

Commissioner Mike Mulcare said that there is a divided effort in Douglas County, which has two development authorities, and that mindsets need to change. The city and county need to “hold hands” in bringing jobs to Douglas County, he said.

“As one of the commissioners who allegedly doesn’t get it or doesn’t care, I also take exception to Commissioner Robinson’s comments,” Mulcare said. “I am hopeful and expecting that the new city leadership will bring a new day in this regard. That will be a large part to the future of economic development.”

Before BOC approval, the 2012 budget was cut by $11 million. It is down $1.6 million, or 4 percent, from the 2011 budget.

Following the called meeting to adopt the budget, the BOC held its work session, during which they discussed the proposed new Environmental Health fee schedule. The proposed increase is expected to bring in an additional $23,900 to the department. Over the last four years, the sustained a $232,000 cut in funding from Douglas County and saw its state funding decrease by $142,000.

The increased fees would be passed on to hotels, motels and residents who own swimming pools, not to residents who receive services from the Board of Health. Dr. Jack Kennedy told the BOC that the department has to take money from programs residents need in order to pay for inspections.

“That just isn’t right,” he said. “The cuts are continuing to come, and I think they’re going to continue.”

The BOC will hold its work session on Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 10 a.m. in at the Douglas County Courthouse.

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