Gwinnett Commissioners To Vote on 2014 Budget

The 2014 Gwinnett County fiscal year should officially take effect Tuesday (Jan. 7), as the Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the budget.

The spending plan, which was rolled out in November, is for about $1.51 billion, down 0.09 percent from the current plan.

However, it projects for about a 2.4 percent increase in the county tax digest, the first upward turn in years. 

And so the budget calls for no property tax increase, and proposes a 3 percent pay raise for county workers, which includes police officers and firefighters. That would be the first such salary increase since 2009.

Some other highlights of the proposed budget:

• $250,000 in reserve funding is proposed for the Gwinnett library system, which has been hit hard by cutbacks in recent years;
• two additional medical units are being provided for firefighters, who also are medical first responders, as well as increased staffing for existing med units;
• $250,000 is earmarked for increased outreach efforts to the Gwinnett community.