Fresh Loaf

Some random observations:

• Write-in candidate Dr. Tiffany Brown got in the neighborhood of 60 votes city-wide. That’s about one vote for each time the line “Vote for Tiffany Brown” was used in her catchy campaign rap song.
• At the end of September, mayoral front-runner Mary Norwood had a huge campaign warchest. But over the past month, she burned through more than $600,000, spending more than Kasim Reed ($274,000) and Lisa Borders ($300,000) put together. As of Oct. 25, Norwood and Reed each had about $166,000 in cash on hand (although Reed had loaned his campaign about $100,000 of that amount).
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There’s a parlor game going on these days down at Atlanta City Hall. Here’s how you play: Imagine that President-elect Obama invites Mayor Shirley Franklin to join his administration; then figure out who might move over to take her place, and who’d take that person’s place, and who’d take that person’s place, and so on.

I’d heard about this swirl of speculation a couple weeks back, but decided it would be irresponsible to write about because it’s so, well, speculative. But I’ve changed my mind because: 1) polls are predicting an Obama victory; 2) City Hall is still buzzing with this talk; and 3) the AJC has already jumped on board the speculation train.

So here goes: If Shirley heads to Washington next spring, then a special election would have to be called to replace her. The collective assumption is that City Council President Lisa Borders – who abandoned her campaign for mayor for personal reasons in mid-August – would get back into the race. In a campaign cycle lasting only a few weeks, Borders would have to be considered the front-runner due to high name recognition.

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On Wednesday the Atlanta City Council Finance Committee briefly discussed a proposal by Councilman Lamar Willis that … well, let’s just say it ain’t gonna make Shirley very happy.

Like most council members, Willis is fuming over the mayor’s recent announcement that the city is facing a $70 million budget shortfall because of unanticipated expenses and accounting mistakes. Therefore, Willis wants to rescind a number of pay-grade increases for city executives approved in November.

The increases boosted the salary ranges for top management positions, from chief of staff (max earnings rose from $208K to $237K) to chief financial officer (from $216K to $271K) to the budget chief (from $132K to $170K).

Councilman Howard Shook, who chairs Finance, says the increases were enacted last fall to make the city more competitive in attracting top-flight management talent. Besides, he says, since the pay-grade adjustments didn’t translate into immediate raises for the affected employees, the total cost of the measure has been estimated at about $10,000 so far.

“This is not how you overcome a $70 million deficit,” Shook says.

Perhaps, says Willis, but “it sends a message to the executives who possibly put us in this situation.”

The proposal has support from fellow council members Natalyn Archibong, C.T. Martin, Felicia Moore and Ivory Young. Still, Willis agreed to hold it until the next meeting to allow time to see what the actual cost of the pay-grade increases has been.

Who will figure up that figure? The city finance department, of course.

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