By Mark Woolsey

In a pair of divided votes, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night approved the 2026 fiscal year budget while also voting to keep the millage rate flat, signing off on a document that funds only a handful of new employee positions.

Before final approval, Cobb’s Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann again walked commissioners through a blizzard of numbers, as Tuesday marked a third and final public hearing before adoption of the document coming in the second year of a two-year budget cycle. As such, no new major projects we included in the plan.

“I believe with all we’ve been considering since November of last year, we’re doing the best we can with  this budget under these circumstances,” said commission Chair Lisa Cupid.

The $1.35 billion document includes a $48 million operating budget hike from this past year’s spending plan, with a general fund increase of $18 million, putting it at $643 million.

With the millage rate holding steady at 8.46, property owners equipped with a floating homestead exemption will not pay more in general fund-related county taxes, although the county fire fund portion and school taxes are not covered. Those without the exemption will pay millions more because of rising property values. The general millage rate has been unchanged since 2018.

Rising expenses included raises for county employees of 2 percent across the board as a cost-of-living increase, with some employees possibly qualifying for a merit increase of as much as 3 percent beyond that based on performance.

Cupid defended the raises, saying that many county employees could make much more in the private sector.

“Our employees don’t come for public hearings,” she said. “They speak with their feet.”

Volckmann said that county departments requested 290 new positions at the beginning of this year’s budget cycle but only four were added-two in the fire department and two in the water department. None of them derive money from the general fund, the financial officer said.

In addition to the raises, a number of other operational cost increases (comprising the $48 million figure} were detailed by Volckmann. They include such things as increased prices for water purchases, chemicals and utilities, filling positions that have been vacant and a hike in workers’ compensation, health and dental claims.

One notable  drop came in the  fire fund millage rate being reduced by .02 mills to 2.97 for a  $1 million savings, while the fire contingency fund still will increase by $4.1 million and creating what county numbers-crunchers think is a good reserve.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell took exception to that.

“I do not support reducing the fire fund millage,” she said. “They just got it back to where It was before the  first cut.”

“Everything in the fire fund pays for everything the fire department does.”

The CFO said balancing books became a challenge.

“We started with a $7 million shortfall,” he said. He noted that the gap was offset owing to such factors as a higher-than-expected tax digest increase and lower than anticipated health rates.

The final 3-2 votes on the budget document and millage rates came with Democratic Board Chair Lisa Cupid and Democratic Commissioners Monica Sheffield and Erick Allen weighing in in support of the document, while GOP members Birrell and Keli Gambrill opposed.

Cupid thanked applicable county workers and officials for their work on the budget, as well as those who came to speak at public hearings.