Fresh Loaf

About two weeks ago, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin announced city-wide employee furloughs to cut spending.

Today, she dropped the other shoe.

This morning, Franklin laid out her plan to slash another $14 million from the budget; the casualties include 23 recreation centers, the annual Atlanta Jazz Fest and a total of 222 more city jobs.

We’re not talking here about eliminating unfilled positions — nearly all of those were wiped out in previous rounds of cuts. These are actual city employees.

As the Mayor put it: “We are cutting into what we believe is the bone.”

Here’s where the bulk of the layoffs are falling:

• 58 employees from Public Works, mostly in trash and yard waste collection
• 25 employees from Planning, predominantly in building permits
• 107 recreation center employees

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BAILOUT: President Bush, looking concerned, nervous but still slightly amused, tells the nation that the “entire economy is in danger.”

PALIN: CNN’s Campbell Brown issued a rant to the McCain campaign Tuesday, calling for it to stop sheltering its VP candidate and treating her “like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment,” in response to the campaign barring reporters from asking her questions at a U.N. appearance. Palin was then turned loose to Katie Couric Wednesday, and it did not go well.

MCCAIN: Suspends his campaign to focus on the economy, and asks Obama to postpone Friday’s debate if a bailout deal isn’t reached by then. Obama declines, saying “It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

GAS PANIC: Still going on, and people are still fighting at gas stations.

MERGE PROTECTOR: Northwest Airlines’ shareholders this morning approved merging with Delta, whose shareholders will also vote today. Antitrust approval still awaits.

EURO TRIP: Gov. Perdue’s upcoming trip to Spain is expected to cost taxpayers $100,000 at a time when Georgia faces a nearly $1.6 billion budget shortfall and has asked state agencies, including the governor’s office, to cut back.

SHOOTING THE BREEZE: The Gainesville Times reports that relocated city slickers often are shocked this time of year by their neighbors outside, guns a-blazin’, because much of unincorporated Georgia allows residents to shoot guns on their own property.

UGA VS. ‘BAMA: Officials warn that Athens may be flooded with counterfeit tickets Saturday, as average real-ticket prices are more than $300.

TERROR LEVEL RED HOT: The New Englandish region (touché, Jimbo) isn’t establishing a good track record with bomb recognition. First there was the 2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force scare in Boston; now the Philadelphia Phillies blew up some hot dogs before losing to the Braves Wednesday night.

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SARAH PALIN: The NY Times examines her governing style, which includes hiring several high school friends to high-paying state jobs for which they had no relevant experience.

BEAR MARKET TO FLEA MARKET: The Lehman Brothers investment bank announces it will file for bankruptcy, and despite the possibly market-soothing buyout of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, the Dow drops 300 points.

FALCONS: Can’t overcome early deficit to the Bucs despite a near-comeback in the fourth quarter.

LAWYER MILLOY: The Falcons’ star safety was arrested on charges of DUI and speeding early this morning. No word yet on whether he will represent himself.

GALVESTON: Rendered a wasteland by Ike, with packs of stray dogs and loose steer wandering the sewage-strewn streets. Hurricane hold-outs now want off the island after lack of power and water has made it almost uninhabitable.

CUTBACKS: State lawmakers, judiciary and the governor’s office say they’ll cut back on their budgets in addition to upcoming state budget cuts made necessary by the colossal statewide shortfall.

QUORUM: The revamped Clayton school board can now move forward with official business after reaching a quorum by recruiting two former candidates for board seats.

DOG CALLS 911: To report owner’s seizure.

LANIER: Not filling back up anytime soon.

LINGERING: Linger Longer Communities says it’s making progress on plans for its Jekyll Island redevelopment, but navigating the environmental laws and public input may be bogging down the process.

UGA: Drops to No. 3 despite staying undefeated, but still has four top-10 teams on its schedule, all SEC foes.

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Despite warnings of decreased public services and reassurances that its shuttering wouldn’t affect response times, the Atlanta City Council today voted 11-3 to override Mayor Shirley Franklin’s veto of their plan to re-open Fire Station No. 7 in Southwest Atlanta.

The council’s plan involves sluicing $1.12 million from various municipal departments to pay for the historic station’s operating and maintenance costs.

The legislation now heads back to the mayor’s desk, where she will douse it in gasoline and set it ablaze.

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TED KENNEDY: Helps kick off the Democratic National Convention with a rousing speech, despite his terminal brain cancer.

GUSTAV: Hurricane gains strength in advance of hitting Haiti. Tropical Storm Fay’s remnants continue to soak Atlanta today; the storm destroyed only about 8 percent of coastal Georgia’s sea turtle nests, though, which was less than feared.

FRED CRANE: The actor who played a beau to Scarlett O’Hara and spoke Gone With the Wind’s first line has died at the age of 90.

HOT MANTA: The Georgia Aquarium brings in a manta ray rescued from fishing nets in the Indian Ocean.

RUSTLE: A raccoon that’s been terrorizing a judge and others at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building downtown has been captured.

WONDER WAAL: Emory primate researcher Frans de Waal has demonstrated that generosity is rewarding to capuchin monkeys, who prefer “prosocial” behavior over pure self interest.

CLAYTON WITH BATED BREATH: SACS is expected to announce this week whether it will strip Clayton schools of their accreditation, since the Sept. 1 deadline falls on Labor Day.

STATE PARKS: Could be closed due to the statewide budget crisis.

QUILTERS NEVER WIN: The Gee’s Bend quilters from Alabama have resolved their lawsuit against an Atlanta art dealer whom they had accused of cheating them out of earnings.

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And isn’t it ironic? A little too ironic, don’cha think?

Earlier this month, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced that state revenues were in the toilet, budget estimates were projecting a $1.6 billion ( yes, that’s a “B”) shortfall and that he was considering raising most people’s property taxes.

Hmm. This reminds us of an earlier situation involving a large government entity. We just can’t quite put our finger on it…

Oh, yeah – It’s Atlanta! Remember when CL broke the news back in January about the city budget crisis and the media shit-storm that followed?

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THIS TIME IT’S PERSONNEL: City Council unanimously passes an ordinance requiring the mayor to get its approval before making additions or reductions to the city’s personnel, the latest in an ongoing melodrama between the council and mayor.

DEER IN HEADLINES: A six-legged deer found in Rome, Ga., is understandably popular.

BUSH: Went down to Georgia.

CHILDRESS: Hawks’ restricted free agent is considering an offer to play in Greece.

RIGHT TO AIR ARMS? U.S. House Homeland Security Committee chairman doesn’t think we should have guns at the airport.

ROCK DRUMMERS: Require at least as much physical endurance as soccer players, according to a recent British study that used Blondie drummer Clem Burke as its test subject.

LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER: Researchers and companies like Xerox are backing away from utopian visions of a paperless society that became popular in the late 20th century, using the phrase “paper-less” instead to focus on the more pragmatic, but less glamorous, goal of simply not wasting as much paper as we do now.

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If you hadn’t noticed, the Atlanta budget crisis has resulted in some raw nerves and strained relations down at City Hall. The process has gone something like this: Mayor Shirley Franklin announces budget cuts. The City Council criticizes her cuts, but asks her to make some more. Franklin makes more cuts. The Council criticizes the new cuts. And so on.

On Friday, Council President Lisa Borders released a formal response to the Mayor’s announcement of $21.6 million in cuts, which include closing a fire station and laying off several dozen firefighters:

I am disappointed that additional personnel are being laid off by the Mayor as a way of achieving the City Council’s mandated 2.5 percent cut in the General Fund budget. Instead of reducing costs by eliminating jobs first, we should be more innovative in the way we do business and deliver services to residents.

A few hours later, Franklin sent this e-mail response directly to Borders:

You will have your chance as Mayor should you be successful in your election.

Snap! And minutes later, Franklin added:

The Council added costs to the budget and then gave me the authority to make the cuts after refusing to do so themselves. The Council and Chairman [Howard] Shook punted with your concurrence and instigation. I made the decisions for cuts the Council didn’t. I’m OK with that because that’s what Mayors have done all over America for years.

The ball’s in Border’s court:

I have great respect for you and the job you have done as Mayor of our beloved city. But let’s be clear: the Council is a 15-armed octopus and to suggest that I could “instigate” a unanimous vote – especially on something as complicated and critical as this monumental budget gap – is a stretch, to put it mildly. I certainly don’t have to tell someone with your experience that disagreements over policy choices are part of a healthy, natural tension between our branches of government.

Now, we should point out that we abbreviated the discourse slightly. Both Franklin and Borders acknowledged that the city is better off when the Mayor and Council work together and they expressed a desire to do so in the future.

But while it’s easy to imagine those two women settling their differences cordially and professionally, there are several members of the Council – C.T. Martin, for starters – who make collaboration between the administration and the Council all but impossible. Which means we’re probably stuck with the current back-and-forth.

Unfortunately, we’re probably not in the home stretch. Later this week, Atlanta officials expect to learn from Fulton County how much the city will be able to collect in property taxes in coming months. Because of assessment appeals, the figure could be much lower than the one the Council used when it approved the city budget last month. If so, there could be more budget cuts – and more bickering – in the city’s future.

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The budgetary back-and-forth between Shirley Franklin and the Atlanta City Council took on the feel of a cut-throat, high-stakes poker match this past Friday, with the mayor effectively calling their bet – and raising.

When the Council adopted a $571 million city budget for 2009 at the end of June, it sidestepped a proposed tax increase by tasking Franklin to trim $14.6 million from city expenses – on top of more than $57 million in cuts she’d already undertaken to avoid a projected budget shortfall.

On Friday, the mayor upped the ante, instead slashing $21.6 million – nearly 50 percent more than requested – from the budget, at the cost of a West End fire station, a streetlight maintenance contract, vacant police jobs and 78 city employees, including 34 firefighters. That’s in addition to the more than 400 staffers laid off in May.

Franklin didn’t maintain a good poker face; clearly angry, she blamed the Council for forcing her hand. “Their actions will affect the city for a long time to come,” she said.

Minutes later, Council President Lisa Borders countered that the choices were Franklin’s and would be reviewed – and possibly reversed – by the Council. “To indicate that the Council mandated cuts to police and fire is disingenuous,” she said. “We’re not done yet with these cuts.”

Unfortunately, that isn’t all they’re not done with.

On Monday, a judge ordered that, for now, Atlanta and other municipalities within Fulton County could only collect taxes based on 2007 values for most commercial properties – not the 2008 reassessments, which were about 20 percent higher.

No one at City Hall yet knows the full impact of the ruling, but it could mean city revenue would be tens of millions less than anticipated in coming months. Under the judge’s decision, additional taxes cannot be collected on assessments under appeal until more than half of the 15,000 appeals are resolved by the county, a process that likely will take months.

In fact, Robert Proctor, the attorney challenging the county’s assessments, has filed a new lawsuit challenging the certification of tax officials hearing appeals. If his suit succeeds, the appeals process would grind to a halt, adding more months to the delay in tax collections.

Borders said she hopes to learn the scope of the damage by early next week. She also is waiting to hear from city attorneys on the legality of re-opening the budget process, if that step becomes necessary. When it approved the city budget in June, the Council likewise set the tax rate for the coming year. It’s unknown whether the city can revisit that decision so soon.

Said Borders: “This situation is unprecedented.”

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JEKYLL: The first new development in three decades on the island, a Hampton Inn, breaks ground Monday.

AERO HEADS: Jacoby Development’s large-scale “aerotropolis” redevelopment of the Hapeville Ford plant could be the southside city’s big break, but commercial real-estate experts say it’s also a big risk.

REVIVAL: State gives $10,000 to proposed new Allman Brothers museum in Macon.

CEASAR MITCHELL: Running for mayor.

TRIALS OF JOB: Mayor Franklin announces she’ll cut another 165 jobs to deal with the budget shortfall.

THE LONG RUN: USA Today profiles the Braves’ baffling inability to win one-run games.

CLASSICAL GAS: Norcross gas station took part in a $1.99/gallon marketing gimmick that had a line of cars waiting 30 minutes or more to fill up.

NICHOLS TRIAL: Judge says it needs to be moved.

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“The Council had the authority to do this but it is an unwise business decision and represents one of the worst public policy decisions I have seen in my 20 year professional career,”

-Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, on the City Council’s decision today to not to raise property taxes to offset the city’s budget shortfall.

I wonder where her own staff’s chronic mismanagement of the city’s budget office ranks on Franklin’s policy poop list.

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Mayor Shirley Franklin is none-too-pleased with the city council’s adopted budget that actually lowers property taxes and cuts an additional 2.5 percent from departments.

In fact, she calls it the worst decision she’s seen in her almost-20 year professional career.

UPDATE: The mayor’s office has release a revised statement that has the correct dollar figures and a mysteriously removed exclamation point. Yet no punctuation has replaced it… scandal!

Original statement follows after the jump. Here’s the revised one:

The Atlanta City Council is now asking the Administration to make an additional $14.6 million in cuts without cutting personnel. As I stated earlier, anyone who believes that the City can cut $14.6 million (the proposed Administration’s budget already included almost $60 million in cuts) without laying off current employees does not understand the operations of city government. It cannot be done, responsibly

This is a risky choice in a bad economy and the people of Atlanta will have to bear the burden of the Council’s decision to not do what is in the best interest of the residents, both short term and long term.

To balance the budget on the backs of employees is irresponsible, when they were offered an alternative of a modest tax increase in an effort to preserve gains in public safety and to maintain core services. The Council had the authority to do this but it is an unwise business decision and represents one of the worst public policy decisions I have seen in my 20 year professional career and it will have negative ramifications for the quality of life for the people of Atlanta.

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