Atlanta tax hike proposed to end police furloughs
April 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm by Scott Henry in News
Shirley aims to raise taxes
As we blogged on Tuesday, Mayor Shirley Franklin appeared before the City Council this morning to propose a 3-mill tax increase for the city’s 2010 budget, which kicks in on July 1. If approved as proposed, the unpopular furloughs for the police and fire department would end in three months.
How much is 3 mills? Franklin told the Council it was roughly a 7-percent increase for taxpayers. According to her, the way it would work out that if you own a $200,000 house, you’ll pay an additional $200 this fall. For anyone with a $1 million home, the hit is closer to $1,200.
The mayor is actually proposing less spending than was approved in the current budget — $541 million, compared to $573 million. That’s because city revenues have been steadily falling. Unfortunately, budget projections suggest the city will only collect about $485 million next year — hence, the proposed tax hike.
Last year, the Council voted unanimously to reject a much smaller tax increase, asking Franklin to instead cut personnel and services. The result was the furloughs. It’s already quite clear that this time around, it’s a whole new ball game.
This is an election year, so for some members of Council — especially those from the northern half of the city — a vote to raise taxes is tantamount to political suicide. Others, however, have likely heard enough complaints about crime that they’re willing to risk giving Franklin what she wants and take their chances with the voters. Anne Fauver, who’s not running for reelection, has already signaled her willingness to go along with a tax hike.
“I’m prepared to approve a tax increase to end the furloughs for all employees,” announced Jim Maddox at this morning’s budget meeting. In other words, he doesn’t think the proposed tax hike is large enough.
Teabaggers, start your engines.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
May 1st, 2009 at 8:56 am
Why does Empress Franklin always give us false choices? Her latest scam is to say that either we pay higher taxes or we continue to sacrifice our safety. We need a leader who will explain the real choices and trade-offs. And who makes the right budget choices. Fortunately, Shirley Franklin is headed to the garbage pail of history.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I’m no fan of Shirley, but Mary Norwood’s response to the mayor’s proposed budget – copy below – is scary in its incoherence and wishful thinking.
It does not suggest the skills or sense of responsibility required to run this city. The mayor and CFO have spelled out the mess we’re in. It is not complicated: revenues have been flat and expenses, especially pensions, are way up. A serious candidate would address the challenge forthrightly.
If Ms Norwood thinks we have the money to fund the important priorities, she should lay out her numbers next to the mayor’s and specify what she proposes to cut out. The fixed costs of retirement contributions and bond payments eat up a very significant piece of the $500 mm budget. It is not clear that Ms Norwood knows this, despite her years of scrutinizing the budget. Simply to assert that there is enough money to pay for public safety and other essential services won’t do.
How would she spend the money left after pension and bond expense and what services would she cut out?
Does she propose steps to cut pension costs, and not just by the sleight of hand of deferring more of the expense to later years?
Does she propose to ensure that growth in the property tax base results in higher revenues to the city? That has not happened under the Franklin administration and is a big part of the crisis the city is in.
Does she propose efficiency improvements, what are they, and when can they be expected to kick in?
Crowd-pleasing rhetoric about leaky buckets and water bill errors won’t help someone sitting at the mayor’s desk in 2010 who is responsible for balancing the budget.
NORWOOD’S BUDGET RESPONSE – May 1
Dear Neighbors,
A new budget has been proposed for the City of Atlanta that will
raise your taxes. For the last seven years I have sat on the Atlanta
City Council. I have spent hundreds of hours reviewing the city
finances and studying the city budget. Our city’s budget is the
classic leaky bucket: money flows in and money oozes out. The city’s
bank accounts haven’t been reconciled. Finance directors come and go,
and the basic question of how much money the city actually has isn’t
answered. I have concluded that the city’s budget is nothing more
than a shell game – moving money from one account to another to
satisfy the financial crisis of the moment. As I move around this
city, listening to the people of Atlanta, citizens tell me that they
are troubled with the way our city manages their money. I share this
frustration and that is why I am running for Mayor.
Now is not the right time to raise the tax burden our hard-working
families pay to City Hall.
With a budget in excess of a half a billion dollars, we have the
dollars we need to fund our priorities: cops on the beat, fire
stations open 24/7, and an end to the furloughs. We have enough money
to promote jobs, protect neighborhoods, enforce property codes, and
alleviate traffic congestion hotspots. But we have to prioritize. We
have to make choices. Good management counts.
My choice: first we fund the must haves like police and fire. Only
when we’ve funded our real priorities do we fund the other things that
are nice to have. Furloughing police and closing fire stations without
cutting costs elsewhere gets things completely backwards. Especially
when we have no confidence in the financial figures coming from the
Administration. Can we trust 100% in budget numbers that come from a
City Hall that cannot even send out accurate water bills? I don’t
think so.
I cannot vote for this tax increase.
Sincerely yours,
Mary Norwood
May 4th, 2009 at 12:30 am
I’ve watched as city workers dug up my street and many others for no reason than to apparently repave them (when the streets were fine to begin with). I’ve watched drivers run red lights, swerve to avoid stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks. I’ve seen cars parked in expired metered spots with no tickets, and cars parked illegally on residential streets. I’ve seen houses with garbage piled all over the place with no visits or fines from sanitation.
I see all of this, and the city says it has no money? There is so much waste as well as clear-cut places for revenue.
My suggestion:
Everyone except for police and fire now work 3 or 4 day weeks for 60-80% pay. Don’t like it? Quit and try to find a cushier job.
Raise the price of vehicle registration and license renewals by 1000%. It’s too cheap to drive here.
Put tolls on I-75/I-85 and I-285. Don’t want to pay the toll? Move into the city and bring your tax dollars or start taking the train. These funds should be enough to fund public transit as well as “fix” the roads.
Hire a slew on new cops to specifically focus on traffic enforcement. Actually start enforcing the speed limit, ticket the hell out of people and the police dept. will fund itself. It worked for NYC, so it should certainly work for a smaller city like Atlanta. Plus, drivers here are the worst I’ve ever seen, so it should be easy to ticket them for something.
Finally, if that’s not enough, raise property taxes, but announce breaks such as rebates for installing solar panels are some such crap. People love green stuff.