Gwinnett To Ponder 2013 Budget

Gwinnett commissioners are expected to formally adopt the fiscal year 2013 budget on Thursday, Jan. 3.

The commissioners, who begin the year with two members who were not on the panel at the start of 2012, are scheduled to discuss the proposed budget at a 10 a.m. work session. If no hitches develop, the formal vote would take place at the 2 p.m. business meeting.

The budget totals about $1.3 billion (operating budget and capital expenditures budget), about 8.5 percent smaller than the 2012 budget.

It's the first full-year Gwinnett budget to be formulated since the Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) settlement with cities in Gwinnett last February. That settlement mandates payments from the county to the cities over the double-taxation issue that was at the core of the dispute. Also, the SDS deal mandates the establishment of service districts for such matters as police and emergency services.

Beginning new terms on the 2013 commissioners panel are former Suwanee Council member Jace Brooks, who represents District 1, and Tommy Hunter, who represents District 3. Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash is beginning her first full term after winning a special election in 2011. (Brooks, who represents Duluth, Suwanee and Sugar Hill on the commission, filled the unexpired term of former commissioner Shirley Lasseter in 2012.)

All five Gwinnett commissioners have taken office since 2010.

With the Lasseter guilty plea to accepting bribes and her resignation from the commission last May in mind, the proposed budget includes funds for a position to investigate corruption in Gwinnett County government. The funds have been requested by District Attorney Danny Porter.