Live from Bob Ott's Second Budget Meeting

Cobb County Commissioner Bob Ott of District 2 (roughly Smyrna and East Cobb below Roswell Road) is holding his second town-hall meeting regarding the county's . The Board of Commissioners is due to receive and enact a budget next Tuesday for the rest of fiscal 2011, ending Sept. 30. Ott is adamantly opposed to increasing property taxes to close the deficit, and all of his colleagues except District 3's Helen Goreham agreed with him at a budget work session March 22.

Ott's , March 29, was at ; is at the at 7 tonight. Smyrna-Vinings Patch editor Hunt Archbold is there tweeting from the meeting, and we're collecting his tweets and posting them here for your perusal and further comment. Expect this article to run a few minutes behind the Twitter feed.

The meeting has come to end without Ott offering any lightning-bolt insights into how the county will close its budget deficit this year and deal with projected falling property values the next two years. But he did make clear again that he believes that spending cuts, not tax increases, are the way forward.

8:40 p.m. And that's the final question, folks. Thanks for joining us for this tweeting experiment.

8:39 p.m. A woman asks whether citizens can contact the Citizens Oversight Committee with questions, and Ott says to e-mail him the questions.

8:35 p.m. This meeting is about to wrap up. Some folks are leaving; others still want to ask questions.

8:34 p.m. He points out that ex-Commissioner Thea Powell (one of his two appointees to the oversight panel) is in attendance. Then he talks about his other committee appointee, ex-Congressman Bob Barr. The crowd applauds.

8:32 p.m. Ott confirms that Wednesday's Citizens Oversight Committee was open, but he did not attend.

8:30 p.m. Ott is asked about the Citizens Oversight Committee. He says its meetings shouldn't be private and should be open.

8:28 p.m. Ott agrees with the man, but he contends that every department needs to be looked at from top to bottom.

8:26 p.m. A fireman tells Ott that firemen do more with less.

8:25 p.m. Mable House and the Cobblestone golf course should be cost-neutral, according to Ott. He says they should be privatized.

8:24 p.m. A man has asked if the increase in fuel expense impacts the county. Ott says most certainly. "We try to have fuel-efficient vehicles,'' Ott says.

8:21 p.m. Ott is told by a woman that county workers are good. He responds, "Generally speaking, we have a tremendous staff.''

8:19 p.m. Ott on nonprofits: "We have to work away from providing those funds, but at the same time we don't want to put those people on the streets."

(8:18 p.m. From @TriciaClements, apparently unimpressed with the annual audits: "But how in depth are they & what do they uncover? Not mulegate, waterfund gate, streetlight-gate, and so on.")

8:17 p.m. Ott says the county is providing money to some nonprofits, but each of those nonprofits is providing a service.

8:14 p.m. Otts says some bus routes are useful, but Cobb Community Transit, like all optional services, needs to be looked at to make sure it's running efficiently.

8:12 p.m. Ott is talking about CCT. All the buses used were purchased with federal grants.

8:11 p.m. Ott: "We do have an internal audit department. ... Clearly at the end of the year we do the required audits.''

8:09 p.m. Next man: "You're doing a good job.'' (applause)

8:07 p.m. Woman: "How many SWAT teams does Cobb County have? Ott: "I'm not sure.''

8:04 p.m. Ott: "Yes, the retirement plan has a hole. ... We have to figure out a payment plan."

8:03 p.m. The next man is asking about retirement plans: "Are we in hot water like all the other municipalities?''

8:02 p.m. Ott: There has to be analysis to see if the fire and police departments are operating as efficiently as they can be.

8:01 p.m. Ott: A fire battalion chief works for 24 hours and is off. He says a police precinct chief doesn't operate that way.

7:59 p.m. The next man asks about fire battalion chiefs being cut.

7:57 p.m. Ott explains that he asked for work to be done on the deficit in December and nothing happened. He explains he's just as frustrated as everyone.

7:56 p.m. Next man: "Here we are in early April ... but if we knew (deficit) was $28 million in early February, we need to get this done. ... Taxpayers are having a tough time.''

7:54 p.m. Man: "We've come too far to start cutting services.'' He questions why Ott won't raise the millage instead of cutting services.

7:50 p.m. Ott: "I'm not talking about taking firemen off the back of the truck or policemen out of police cars.''

7:49 p.m. Next man: "I know you have to prioritize, but where do you put a value on our children to cut safety?"

7:47 p.m. He's explaining that money from drug seizures stays in the Police Department for the most part. That was his way of answering her question.

7:46 p.m. Ott: "We receive federal grants all the time. Sometimes it's in the form of money, sometimes in the form of equipment.''

7:45 p.m. One woman is yelling into the mic: "Where is the half-million dollars?!" Ott is confused by the question.

7:43 p.m. Ott: "Look at getting fire personnel sitting behind desks back on the trucks.''

7:42 p.m. Ott is talking about ISO rating. "ISO is one of the factors that is used to determine your risk.'' (A better ISO rating on fire safety cuts your premium on homeowner's insurance.)

7:40 p.m. Now it's time for questions. First man: Elaborate on public cuts to safety?

7:38 p.m. Ott says 62 county employees make over $100,000, and 240 employees make between $75,000 and $100,000. "We need to get a handle on spending."

(7:37 p.m. From @cmoney404: "Wade's my BOY! !!!!!!!!")

7:34 p.m. Ott: "Got to have an operational balanced budget for next year and then think long term.''

7:32 p.m. On the hiring freeze since 2007: "We've been hiring people. ... We don't need to hire positions that aren't critical.''

7:30 p.m. Ott says that the county must think outside the box. If two libraries are near each other, then maybe alternating days when they're open. (That discussion last meeting focused on the East Marietta and East Cobb libraries.)

7:29 p.m. Ott: "Rec centers and the parks, we may have to reduce the hours.''

7:28 p.m. Ott: "The fairest thing to do if we have to make changes with the employees is we have to have furlough days.''

7:26 p.m. Ott says the county is responsible for three things: public safety, water and the roads. Everything else is extra.

7:22 p.m. Ott: "I said no to a tax increase. Our digest is expected to go down until 2013. We have to get a handle on this spending.'' (The digest is the cumulative taxable property value in the county.)

7:18 p.m. Ott is talking about options to address the deficit: "I think we're top-heavy with our staff.''

7:08 p.m. Ott has arrived. He says the meeting will look a lot like the last week's, but no talk about WellStar. (Folks in East Cobb are riled up about WellStar's plans for a new health complex in an area with tight traffic already.)

7:04 p.m. Chairman Tim Lee is here, but still no Bob Ott. Crowd up to about 55 or so. (It will be interesting to see whether Ott is asked about or talks about a story in today's Marietta Daily Journal in which Lee refuses to rule out a tax increase. Or at least that's the way the MDj portrayed things.)

6:58 p.m. Smyrna City Councilman Wade Lnenicka just walked into the room. Probably about 40 people here now.

6:55 p.m. We're here at the Smyrna Community Center for Bob Ott's town-hall meeting, to begin at 7 p.m. The crowd is trickling in. About 35 so far.