Just days before the new budget year starts, at least two Hall County commissioners say they have a new proposal for the county that won't raise taxes and won't shut down the parks department.

But at least one commissioner — Chairman Tom Oliver — questions the viability of such a spending plan, saying it blazes a "trail of destruction."

Though Commissioner Ashley Bell has yet to make public a proposal to get the county government through the next year, working with $11.5 million less, Commissioner Craig Lutz said he believes the proposal could get the support of as many as four commissioners when it comes to a vote at Thursday's  meeting.

Bell's proposal would radically change the way the parks department is operating, perhaps turning it over to one of two local nonprofit agencies.

It likely would also mean employees who are paid with proceeds from the special local option sales tax would lose their jobs. And county departments wouldn't have a "rainy-day" contingency fund to pay for higher fuel costs or other unexpected spending.

Satellite tag offices in North and South Hall might close. And the county could eliminate its share of funding for the Department of Family and Children Services.

Commissioners have until midnight June 30 to decide on a spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that begins Friday. As yet, a proposal hasn't surfaced that a majority of commissioners can agree on.

But Lutz and Bell say the newest proposal, offered in the 11th hour, could pass.

"I think we might have a budget that four of us might be able to vote for," said Lutz.

For his part, Oliver said the new plan isn't sustainable and the effect will keep businesses from locating in the county.

"It's going to decimate Hall County," Oliver said.

Bell said his proposal for the county's general operations budget does not include a millage rate increase, though he said he has discussed the possibility of a roll-up, a millage rate increase that offsets a loss in property values, with other commissioners.

It does, however, raise millage rates to shore up the fire department budget, but only enough to offset the losses in property values. Those rates differ, depending on where a county resident lives. Gainesville residents do not pay any fire tax to support the county fire department, while residents in Hall's other cities pay a higher fire tax than those in unincorporated parts of the county.

"That's been in the budget since day 1," said Lutz of the fire-tax increase. "The rationale there is that the commission has been told ... that if we don't support a roll-up in the fire fund, we're going to have to take fire engines offline. And taking fire engines offline could potentially ... impact people's insurance rates."

Bell said he might support a roll-up to shore up the county's general fund if he felt it added value to the budget.

"As of right now, I don't see a reason to," Bell said.

Without the roll-up, Bell says he can save the two ambulances that had been on the chopping block in a previous budget proposal. A budget document made public June 2 virtually would have eliminated the parks department, laid off about 100 employees and shut down the two ambulances to make up for a $11.5 million shortfall in revenue.

The proposal also cut employees' holiday pay, continued a monthly furlough day and did not allow for the county to contribute to employees' retirement accounts.

Another proposal, made by Oliver, sought to save most of those benefits with a tax increase of at least 1.41 mills.

Oliver's proposal still eliminated 56 positions in the county.

Commissioners voted to eliminate those employees last week instead of waiting on Thursday's final budget decision.

Oliver took issue with the early employee elimination last week, stating that the commissioners who had moved forward with the layoffs weren't going to support his budget plan anyway.

Those commissioners — Bell, Lutz and, reportedly, Scott Gibbs — each have been hard at work on their own plans over the last several days.

The budget proposal was not set in stone Tuesday, but Bell said it would spare county employees from future cuts in salaries and guarantee preservation of "basic services of government."

It will likely mean the government has to eliminate more employees, however, and budgets for already-lean departments will suffer cuts in funding for expenses as basic as office supplies.

Lutz would not outline specific department cuts Tuesday, because he said he wanted county leadership to communicate it to employees first.

"I think right now we're just trying to make sure that everybody is agreeable to the budget and then hopefully it will be communicated in the next couple of days," Lutz said.

Bell said his proposal seeks to save money by pulling county employees out of rented buildings and moving their offices into county-owned buildings that are now empty. Specifically, Bell said he is considering using the former home of Avita Community Partners and the Liberty Mutual building on Browns Bridge Road.

The proposal would mean closing the North Hall and South Hall tag offices.

Bell said such a move could save about $250,000.

"If we're shrinking the size of government, we're just going to have to get cozy and use the space we've got and save that money," Bell said.

Bell said he also wants to consider privatizing projects paid for under a voter-approved SPLOST. At present, a number of county public works employees are paid with sales tax dollars for the work they do on those projects.

The public works department lost the most employees in a recent round of layoffs, but Bell said he believes "there are still some efficiencies to be gained" in the department by bidding out sales-tax funded projects to private companies.

"Those full-time employees that work on nothing but SPLOST projects, those are jobs that could be transferred to the private sector ... instead of having those people on salary," Bell said.

Another part of the proposal would cut county funding to the Department of Family and Children Services.

Oliver on Tuesday took issue with much of the planned cuts, including the cut in funding to the Department of Family and Children Services. Lutz defended the cuts to DFACS as letting the state manage its own agency, but Oliver said it was hurting the community's weakest members.

"I think that is just unreal," Oliver said. "... I understand that part of that (funding) goes to foster parents, and it might not be important to (other commissioners), but to me, it's very important."

Bell also plans to eliminate departmental contingency funds. The funds are set aside for unforeseen expenditures, like rising fuel costs. Department heads have had to get commission approval before using any money from the funds. Bell says eliminating the funds altogether would shave about $750,000 off the budget.

But Oliver said eliminating departments' contingency funds undercuts other commissioners' claims that the county should run like a business, reducing its spending and workforce along with revenues.

"That's just poor management," Oliver said. "Real business people keep contingencies."

Bell said he has also been able to achieve a "significant" savings by reducing budgets for basic office supplies such as pencils and paper.

Bell also said Tuesday that his proposal will allow the county to "hold the line" with its Parks and Leisure Services Department for two months until parks officials and commissioners can come up with a future plan for the agency.

Bell and Parks Director Greg Walker met with leaders of the local YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hall County Tuesday. The two groups are expected to return to the commission with a proposal in the next 45 days, Bell said.

Commissioners have also asked Walker to find a way to bring in additional revenue to help the parks department become more self-sufficient.

Under Bell's plan, Hall County Parks and Leisure Services would operate at its current level until Sept. 1. Bell's budget proposal designates approximately $500,000 to keep the department running at the current level until then and includes as much as another $250,000 startup funds for whatever change may take place in the future.

Even the commissioners that support Bell's proposal don't agree on where the last $250,000 will come from yet, Bell said.

"We haven't nailed all that down yet," he said.

If one or both of the agencies takes over the department, hiring would likely be taken out of the county's hands.

But Bell said Tuesday he has asked that current county parks employees are given priority for jobs in the future incarnation of the parks department.

Bell and Lutz said they were still nailing down the specifics of their budget proposal Tuesday afternoon, and were still considering other cuts to county spending, including scrutinizing overtime receipts for the county's sheriff's office.

"I don't think there are any bad ideas when it comes to cuts ... as long as it doesn't jeopardize the core purpose of government," said Bell.

And that's the main point that Oliver and the other commissioners disagree on.

Oliver's proposal has been shunned by even Commissioner Billy Powell — who often supports Oliver — mostly because it includes a tax increase. Oliver has said the tax hike is necessary to protect county employees and the county's quality of life, and points to other local governments who have raised their tax rates this year and in recent years to preserve services.

He said the other commissioners' plan would mean firing 25 more employees, and possibly more, depending on future decisions for the parks department.

He said the county should also restore funding to employees' retirement plans, and cites other governments' ability to continue contributing to their employees' retirement funds.

"To lay off all these people — that's not my plan," Oliver said. "... You don't know where you're going to end up, you're just starting off with no plans."

Gibbs and Powell did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.