Georgia Town May Lay Off Workers

Snellville, Georgia may cut 18 city jobs, close City Hall one day a week, cancel its yearly Snellville Days festival, and take other cost cutting measures.

After deciding against a 24% property tax increase, council members must cut spending to make up a $1.1 million budget shortfall for fiscal 2010. Three council member say they will not vote to cut police or public safety jobs.

Other items that may get the axe are the Easter egg hunt and Christmas tree, both of which violate the Constitution anyway; landscaping; and yard waste & junk collection.

Snellville is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, east of Atlanta. Census estimates for 2006 show a population of 19,983. The city’s mayor, Jerry Oberholtzer, was elected to a 4-year term in 2007. The city’s commercial and residential development has grown enormously in recent years. In the Atlanta metro area, Snellville is known, mostly humorously, for the slogan on its city limit signs: “Everybody’s Somebody In Snellville.”