County elected officials, department directors, and agency heads will present their business plans and financial resource requests for budget year 2020 starting Monday, August 26. The budget presentations, which run through Thursday, August 29, will be heard by the budget review team made up of six Gwinnett residents who were invited by Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash to help set priorities and make recommendations for the proposed budget.

Thuy Hotle, a retired planner with the County’s Department of Planning and Development and Asif Jessani, principal marketing and technology consultant with CCS: Marketing and Technology are new to the committee this year. They join four budget review team veterans: David Cuffie, CEO, Total Vision Consulting LLC; Norwood Davis, CFO, 12Stone Church; Santiago Marquez, President and CEO, Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; and Keith Roche, a Lawrenceville city councilman and retired business executive. Jessani and Cuffie both graduated from the Gwinnett 101 Citizens Academy.

“Putting together a budget is one of the most important things we do as a board, and it only makes sense that we do it with input from our residents,” Nash said. “As they consider fiscal requests, each member of the budget review team brings unique life experiences, opinions, and preferences. That helps ensure the final budget better reflects the needs and desires of our community. I am grateful to each of the folks on the team for their service and for the collective wisdom they bring to the process.”

The business plan presentations will be recorded for replay on TVgwinnett, the County’s government-access cable television channel, and on demand viewing at www.tvgwinnett.com.  

The Chairman’s 2020 budget proposal will be made available to the public and news media on November 19 in conjunction with its formal presentation to the district commissioners, and the budget public hearing is scheduled for December 12. According to county ordinance, the Board of Commissioners must adopt the annual budget during its first meeting in January.