COBB COUNTY - Cobb residents got their first look at the county's proposed $328.3 million fiscal year 2011 budget during the Cobb Board of Commissioners' Tuesday afternoon work session. Commissioners also heard a presentation regarding a possible fare increase for Cobb Community Transit riders.

The proposed FY11 budget includes no tax increase, furlough days or salary cuts. However, it also includes proposed cuts to library services, lights at parks during various months, reductions in street sweeping and shoulder maintenance contracts, cutting funding for vacant positions, and increased fees for county services and permits.

The proposed budget is almost $10 million, or 2.88 percent, less than fiscal year 2010's $338 million budget. The board voted in July to keep the millage rate at 9.6 percent, as it has remained since 2005.

The first public hearing on the budget will take place on Sept. 14, during the board's Tuesday morning regular meeting, and the budget is expected to be adopted on Sept. 28.

Chairman Tim Lee said the presented budget was the most challenging to balance in recent history due to the decline in the economy, and that the budget was developed with "the full cooperation and input from the district commissioners."

"We looked at many options from furloughs to salary cuts to reduction in staff to reduced services to increased fees," Lee said. "Practically every revenue source is down, and this will need to be monitored closely... (The budget) was developed with the understanding that these are tough times for everyone. And as Cobb's citizens have needed to cut back and operate within their incomes, so should the government."

Most changes will begin in October, when the county's fiscal year 2011 begins, Commissioner Bob Ott said.

Some of those changes will include: Sunday closures of all libraries except the central library in Marietta, with weekday operating hours at some libraries reduced by one hour per day; keeping field lights off at Cobb's parks during the months of December, January and July; a 50 percent reductions in pavement, shoulder maintenance and street sweeping contracts; a 4 percent reduction on premiums offered to employees after their employment with the county; and unfunding 37 full-time positions and 33 fire department positions that are currently open.

The fire department will receive $5 million less in funding in fiscally year 2011 than in fiscal year 2010, and 85 percent of the department's costs are made up of salaries. But county spokesman said other funds would be able to pick up some of the costs for health insurance and other benefits so that no filled positions will be cut.

Some of the commissioners, including Helen Goreham and Ott, were concerned with the proposition that many building maintenance, renovation and street paving projects will continue to be unfounded or deferred, as Goreham said continuing to put off the projects could create a "snowball effect."

"I hope we seriously look at determining funding services. We are already woefully behind on street paving projects, and if this continues, we will have to completely reconstruct some of our roads. We need to focus on taking care of what we own now before we construct any additional roadways," Goreham said.

Ott said parks improvements should also be included in the concern, and that many of the proposed increases in fees were needed, in some cases, just to break even.

"Right now, sometimes the fee we charge to use a facility doesn't even cover the cost to open the facility," Ott said.

For example, charges for groups to use the county's recreational gyms will be raised from $10 an hour on a weekday and $15 on a weekend to $25 and $30, respectively, with a two-hour minimum and $400 maximum charge.

Ott said Lee has kept the other commissioners "extremely informed" throughout the process of balancing the budget and has continuously asked for staff as well as commissioners' input on ideas to cut costs to the county that would have the least amount of impact on taxpayers.

"I don't know that we've ever been this involved as commissioners, and it began all the way back to April when Woody (Thompson) was vice chair and started planning ahead," Ott said.

Lee said, "This has been extremely difficult, especially since I've been in the office for five weeks and this process usually takes months, and every time there was a new challenge, a new obstacle.

County Finance Director Jim Pehrson said, "This is the first step of challenges as we move ahead throughout fiscal year 2011, and we may have to make cuts along the way as we have since 2007, which have allowed us to be where we are today. But we will also have to move ahead in the future to prepare for a difficult 2012."

Also during Tuesday's work session, the board heard a presentation from Cobb Community Transit Director Rebecca Gutowsky regarding potential fare increases and service hour changes for riders using CCT.

According to the presentation, CCT will be asked to reduce its operating costs by $3 million for the 2011 fiscal year. CCT is also being asked to reduce its service level by 5 percent. Proposed changes include increasing adult local fare to ride a bus on the transit system from $1.50 to $2 one-way, while express bus ridership would increase from $3 to $4 each way. Gutowksy said Cobb will continue to charge $1 for youth under 18, although several other area transit centers do not give a discount. The last fare increase was implemented in 2007, Gutowsky said.

Gutowsky said nearly three in five transit agencies (59 percent) have cut service or raised fares, and that only 35 percent of the cost to operate CCT is paid for through passenger fares. CCT's current budget is $19.1 million, and the department calculated 4.5 million passengers during fiscal year 2009. Reduction in service could include eliminating Saturday service hours, cutting customer service hours, reducing ticket purchasing locations and closing customer service centers in Marietta and in the Cumberland area.

Quigley said the county would receive public input at informational meetings at the county's central library on Sept. 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Sept. 14 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Quigley said the board likely would not take action on proposed changes until the end of October and all changes would take effect on Nov. 1. Gutowsky said more public hearings would likely be scheduled in addition to the current September dates.

Gutowsky's presentation, along with Pehrson's presentation regarding the fiscal year 2011 budget, can be found on the county's website at www.cobbcounty.org.