By Arielle Robinson

At their Tuesday evening meeting, Cobb County’s Board of Commissioners approved fiscal year 2022’s budget, which includes added personnel positions and restoration of capital after the pandemic decimated certain sections of the county’s funds.

The board also approved a portion of the budget which includes an increased tax digest of 3 percent for FY 2022.

Tuesday’s approval comes after the public hearing on the budget the BOC held on July 20.

Cobb Finance Director and Comptroller Bill Volckmann presented the budget to the board last night.

Volckmann said that the county plans to add six new positions that will cost a total of $397,000.

Three new elections positions and one diversity, equity and inclusion officer are the full-time positions that will be open.

The two part-time positions are also election personnel.

Volckmann stated that the total general fund revenue in FY 2022 is $496,664,154, which is a 4.82 percent increase from FY 2021.

The county’s largest revenues come from property taxes, which is $331,484,727 for FY 2022. This number is up from FY 2021’s revenue of $306,320,977.

Within the general fund revenue, the second largest revenue comes from other taxes. Other taxes include insurance premium taxes and title ad valorem taxes.

Volckmann said these taxes have increased throughout the years, as people increasingly purchase vehicles.

All of the other general fund revenue categories — like intergovernmental revenues and fine and forfeitures — have actually decreased, as the pandemic has negatively affected those parts of the fund.

As Volckmann presented on the general fund’s expenditures, he pointed out the 377 percent increase in capital from FY 2021 to FY 2022.

Since the pandemic, the county had cut off nearly all the capital that they had adopted. The increase represents the county attempting to restore that capital to prior levels.

The amount in total general fund expenditures for FY 2021 and FY 2022 is exactly the same as the total revenues.

The Superior Court Judges contingency is the highest general fund contingency for FY 2022.

In FY 2021, the county adopted $0 for Superior Court Judges. For FY 2022, that number has increased to $1,000,000.

The funds will go toward the new Superior Court judge who is arriving in January and the employees that come with the judge. Cobb State Court Judge Henry Thompson was appointed to the new Superior Court position by Gov. Brian Kemp when a bench was added to the court.

The personnel contingency is the second-highest contingency for FY 2022. Funds go toward county employee benefits like shift differential and holiday pay for part-time positions.

Click here to watch the presentation of the county BOC’s budget. The budget discussion begins at around the 15:42 mark.