County Working to Close Budget Gap

Gwinnett County officials continue to work to close an .

At a said the county expects to identify enough cuts by the end of March to eliminate the budget shortfall.

Beaudreau said the county has already made significant progress towards balancing the budget.

“We’ve cut 200 some odd employees. We’ve cut a substantial amount out of departmental budgets so now we’re into meat,” he said at last Saturday’s meet and greet. “We’re cutting meat and thinking of creative ways to raise revenue.”

The county has also raised usage fees, Beaudreau added.

For now though, the county remains more than $16 million away from that goal.

In order to allow citizens to monitor the county’s progress towards balancing the budget, officials have created an interactive graph on the Gwinnett County website which shows how much of the $18 million shortfall has been eliminated.

To date, the county has identified $1.8 million in revenue increases that will be used to close the budget gap.

The largest amount, an additional . The other $300,000 in revenue was generated by right-of-way sales to the Georgia Department of Transportation for a Highway 316 project.

According to a statement on the county website, officials will continue to “find revenue enhancements, efficiency improvements and service reductions to fill the gap.”