Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton warned in June that without an extra $2 million his department would have to lay off 88 deputies out of a force of 287. Despite being one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, Forsyth had experienced a precipitous drop in property tax revenue in the wake of the 2008 housing crash.

The money has now been found but Forsyth County, near Atlanta, faces a host of budgetary problems in the face of falling real estate values and a sluggish overall economy: “You can’t keep spending your reserves,” said Forsyth County Commission Chairman Charles Laughinghouse. “It is like a household, you look at your balance and say we can’t do that anymore, and we have to figure out how to start putting some of that back.”