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DeKalb County committee explores approving annual budget by Dec. 31 to reduce year-end rush
Summary
The DeKalb County Finance, Audit and Budget Committee discussed a multi-year effort to shift the county’s budget cycle so the board could approve the budget by Dec. 31, drawing on charter-review recommendations to move submission to Nov. 1 and approval to the end of January.
Presiding Officer Shakyra Johnson urged the Finance, Audit and Budget (FAB) Committee to “see what it would take to start approving the budget by December 31st,” calling it “a hope and a dream” that would require multi-year process changes.
The proposal, discussed at length by commissioners and staff, would move committee workload earlier in the calendar so departmental and constitutional office hearings occur before the CEO’s formal budget submission. Commissioners cited constraints in the county’s enabling law (the OR Act) and the charter-review commission’s recommendation to shift milestones: having the CEO submit the budget by Nov. 1 and adopting it by the end of January—advancing both dates by roughly a month.
Committee members said the primary goal is to reduce the compressed scheduling that followed the CEO’s Dec. 15 submission this year. Commissioner Michelle Long Spears emphasized the operational impact of current dates: under the OR Act some appropriations cannot be spent until the budget is approved, which can leave offices with seven months to spend a 12-month appropriation. “If we were able to move back the deadline… I think it would help us to get off to a good start,” she said.
Staff and the chief of staff said committees could voluntarily begin working earlier to provide priorities for the CEO to consider, noting that any formal change to submission or approval dates would require charter amendment or an adopted change recommended by the charter-review process. The group discussed practical steps the committee can take this year: committee chairs could prepare recommendations by Nov. 1 so the CEO’s Dec. 15 submission already reflects committee priorities, potentially allowing final approval as early as January.
The committee agreed to continue the conversation, incorporate the change into retreat planning and committee calendars, and to present a feasible schedule and near-term steps at upcoming FAB meetings. The next steps include mapping committee meeting dates and coordinating with the CEO’s office and departments so that the board’s priorities can be considered earlier in the budget-development timeline.
The committee did not take formal action on changing statutory dates at this meeting; members framed the effort as a multi-year operational change that requires coordination with the CEO and possibly charter amendments.
