CEO Michael Thurmond: DeKalb ends FY2024 with $150 million rainy-day fund

County employees receive $1,500 retention incentive bonus

 DECATUR, GA—DeKalb County will end the 2024 fiscal year with a projected $150 million fund balance.

“We have ushered in a new era of financial accountability in DeKalb County as evidenced by eight years of balanced budgets and a growing rainy-day fund,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said today, Dec. 17.

The county’s fiscal health allowed CEO Thurmond to authorize a $1,500 employee retention incentive bonus for DeKalb’s 6,000 employees last month. This was the fourth year that employees received a retention incentive bonus.

In January 2017, the county faced a $24.7 million structural deficit, which had forced a series of layoffs and service delivery cutbacks.

Thurmond introduced a plan, adopted by the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners in February 2017, that ultimately balanced the budget and built a $150 million fund balance, which represents a 78 percent improvement.

“My administration has been committed to fostering the continuous growth and development of our most experienced employees who work hard to make our county a better place to live, work, play and do business,” CEO Thurmond said.

Thurmond is departing his 8-year, term-limited position at the end of 2024, having served as DeKalb CEO since January 2017. The Democratic traiblazer’s distinguished career includes his1986 election as Clark County’s first African-American to the Georgia General Assembly since Reconstruction; leading the state Division of Family and Children’s Services, where he directed Georgia’s historic transition from welfare to work; serving three terms as Georgia Labor Commissioner; and serving from 2013 to 2015 as interim superintendent of the DeKalb County School District, the third-largest district in the state of Georgia.