Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Approve the 2025 County Budget
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners held its first business meeting of 2025 today at 2 p.m. The agenda moved quickly, with most items having been pre-discussed by the board, requiring only an official consent vote.
The last item on the agenda was the proposed 2025 Gwinnett County budget. During the December public hearing, many county residents voiced their opposition to the budget. Additional public comments were submitted online through December 31st. Over 90% of the online comments opposed the budget and criticized the direction of the Board of Commissioners' leadership, citing concerns about property taxes, traffic congestion, overdevelopment, quality of life, and the proposed budget itself. We’ve highlighted several of the public comments below.
Despite the opposition, the Gwinnett County 2025 budget passed unanimously.
Notably, Commissioner Holtkamp, who had opposed the budgets in both 2023 and 2024, voted in favor of the 2025 budget. After the meeting, we asked Commissioner Holtkamp to share the reasoning behind his decision to support the new budget.
Below are a few public comment highlights recevied by the board prior to today’s vote:
These public comments were submitted from citizens all over Gwinnett: Auburn, Braselton, Buford, Dacula, Duluth, Hoschton, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Norcross, Snellville, Sugar Hill, Suwanee, and more.
Hello Gwinnett County Commissioners, Are you all out of your minds? You are using and ABUSING Gwinnett taxpayers with impunity! Why do you not care that you are RECKLESSLY spend taxpayer money. Who is holding you to account? Stop spending our TAXPAYER money! You have now proposed another spending spree of over $690,000 for salaries to manage "traffic infrastructure." You all caused this congestion in Gwinnett. How convenient that you all are now asking for more money, for the problems you helped create! UNREAL! Why are you inviting so many developers into Gwinnett to continue to build and overcrowd our county? We are full in Gwinnett! These developers do not live here. They do not care about the quality of living and the fact that the quality of living continues to go down. Gwinnett is OVERPOPULATED yet you all continue to build. Why? You all are getting financial kickbacks so what do you all care. When you can pocket the money from these projects, you benefit. The lowly taxpayers do not. You are ABUSERS Of the public's trust. This is ABUSE of Gwinnett taxpayer money. Stop the spending. Stop the building. Gwinnett is full. Stop ruining Gwinnett. You are creating the problems we now have in Gwinnett. You do this when you continue to invite developers to build here. STOP! Gwinnett is full to capacity. Stop ruining our way of life. Stop abusing our TAXPAYER dollars! You all will pay one day!~ You are shysters....you Nicole Love Hendrickson and the other Democrats on the board too - Kirkland Carden, Jasper Watkins and Ben Ku. Shysters that you all are!
Commissioners. The budget is full of wasteful spending. Unfortunately, Gwinnett has seen its better days. I am a Realtor who is busy helping people sell their homes in Gwinnett and moving to other counties. Maybe I should be grateful to Gwinnett politicians...no need to leed generate. Your horrible policies are causing many to flee our county. I suggest you look at the budget - it is NOT SUSTAINABLE! Homes are expensive and when you add $500-600 per month in taxes you will end up with a county with homes primarily owned by investors, thus a county of renters. You only have to look at neighboring counties to see how that policy has worked for them. I have no words to state the sheer stupidity in direction this county is moving. This path has and will continue to reduce a once prosperous, great county to ruin.
Commissioners. The proposed 2025 budget is a continuation of the lack of spending control we have seen since the Democrats took control of county government in 2021. The proposed budget is 66% higher than the final 2000-year budget. Of course, salary costs are the largest component, and they will increase 55%. If prior years are any indicator this will not be the final number. For the years 2021 thru 2023 final salary costs averaged 11% higher than adopted salary costs. The figure for the 2000 year was+1%. I can only guess at the reasons for the bloat- but I'm told by a reliable source that whereas local government employment was around 5.5 per 1000 population it's now around 6.5 per 1000 population. These numbers, and the fact that we have seen a 65% increase in our property taxes over the last five years, would not be as hard to take if I thought we were getting value for our money. Instead, we get mind numbing congestion, obviously caused by the commissioners' cozy relations with developers. We live off Killian Hill. Have you driven Killian Hill lately? This road should have been five laned 25 years ago. The police are not properly staffed. The jail is grossly understaffed. But we're so proud to finance empty buses and mental health care to attract a California level of homeless people. I know most Dems almost always favor more government. spending. However, I think everyone is against useless spending and don't enjoy getting shortchanged in terms of government services.
Board of Commissioners, please accept this public comment as opposed to the proposed 2025 Gwinnett County budget. In reviewing this budget, compared to previous years, it is clear you need to reign in your spending of Gwinnett County citizen's tax dollars. The continued budget increases are neither justifiable or sustainable. Our county had a population surge around 2019/2020 but has since slowed significantly with a projected population increase of only 10K according to the Governor's Office of Business and Planning. Gwinnett County is not projected to increase past this trend for the near future. Your wild spending and over development in Gwinnett will be challenged at every turn going forward. Additionally, it is concerning during your recent December public hearing when the Chairwoman asked fellow Commissioners for any additional comments to her opening remarks. Instead of any thoughtful feedback from the board, Commissioners Carden and Ku could only offer praise and "pats on the back" to the Marketing team for creating a glitzy and expensive video promoting the budget. This was a telling representation of the board's priorities.
Are board members knowledgeable and prepared to answer detailed and tough questions justifying this budget? From Duluth: Almost a million for community service aids? And the equity crap & nonsense??? Just stop it with the DEI crap and give us homeowners a property tax break!
BOC needs to stop spending money like drunken sailors. You were not elected to become realtors yet you keep approving purchasing property with taxpayers money then millions on consultants to figure out what to do with it ! Gwinnett Place! Millions to continue proposing transit plans again and again after voters resoundingly defeated it at least 4 times. The incredible wasteful spending needs an investigation.
The budget has gotten way too out of control and too high. You commissioners think that the taxpayers can afford this, and you act like it’s your own personal bank account that you spend whatever that you want on this you never disapprove anything you always constantly approve every project that you want and spend our money like it’s nothing. It’s got to stop if you don’t stop it and lower the budget back down people will start moving out of Gwinnett County they keep this county great and they’ll move on somewhere else and build another county like Gwinnett County.
My two comments are only these: STOP raising property taxes and STOP spending more money!! Cut the budget! Without going through the details, I GUARANTEE there is a lot of fat in it. Government doesn't need to be a savior for everyone.........people can and will find a way through whatever they are facing, if we get government out of the way........
Dozens and dozens of public comments were submitted with similar frustrations. Of the ones submitted in favor of the budget included non-profits (NGOs), apparent program officials, etc. who all typically benefit from receiving financial support from the county budget.
GAP will continue to dive deeper into conversations with county officials over this next year. Together, we will become better educated on the inner workings of our county government, take action where needed, and hold our public officials accountable to We the People.
There will be no curtailment in spending until the Board of Commisioners is replaced. They won’t be, for whatever reason. Thus, we have but one option: leave. I’ve been here over 40 years. Had hoped I could stay, but now, I see what this Board is made up of with political greed and selfishness, I must leave.