Fresh Loaf

Atlanta City Councilwoman Anne Fauver recently voted against a study to help make the Peachtree Streetcar project eligible for federal stimulus funding. She says the Beltline is better positioned for federal funds, questions the streetcar’s scope, and wonders who will maintain the estimated $120 million project if it’s built.

On July 20, the Midtown and Downtown business associations offered the City a $600,000 grant to do a feasibility study on a streetcar line along Atlanta’s famed Peachtree Street and to prepare the City’s application for $300 million of stimulus money.

I voted against the legislation to accept the grant. It passed 11-3 so the feasibility study and the application for Federal money will be done. My position is based on the following:

The Franklin Administration asked for the legislation to be fast-tracked. Council had not had a work session or public hearing on the project. We never specifically endorsed the Streetcar proposal. The Streetcar is not THE top priority in Connect Atlanta, the City’s first comprehensive transportation plan either.

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Liz Coyle

Loyal AJC “unpluggers” might have noticed a little morsel of newsy-ness in Sunday’s conversation between the paper’s Deborah Solomon Rosalind Bentley and Terri Montague, the Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO who recently announced her plans to leave the $2.8 billion project come September.

[Montague]:…So I started looking at near-term changes that were going to occur: a turnover in my board that’s about to happen, the mayor leaving. I’ve got one member who hasn’t declared yet but they’re planning to run for public office.

[Bentley]: Who? You’re not being coy are you, and it’s really you?

[Montague]: (Laughs) No, I said a member of the board.

Montague was referring to Liz Coyle, a politically active Midtown resident who’s the Atlanta City Council appointment to the Beltline board. Maria Saporta recently reported Coyle’s hinted at her plans to run for the District 6 Council seat.

Councilwoman Anne Fauver, who’s represented the diverse intown district that includes the Morningside, Midtown and Druid Hills neighborhoods for two terms, won’t seek re-election. Before Coyle can jump into the race, she has to resign from her board position, which she is expected to do at its meeting this morning.

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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.

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Mayor Shirley Franklin is expected to deliver a proposed 2010 budget to Council members tomorrow that includes a 3-mill tax increase. The tax hike is designed to end the police and fire department furloughs and cover an anticipated $40 million shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The budget needs to be approved by the Council by the end of June.

I haven’t heard back from the mayor’s spokespeople, but this all seems quite credible. I’ve also been told that Franklin is confident that she can get the eight Council votes needed to pass her budget — a turnaround from last year, when the Council rejected her call for a much smaller tax increase and unanimously approved a budget that actually included a microscopic property tax cut.

Does she really have the votes? Well, earlier today my colleague Thomas Wheatley was interviewing Councilwoman Anne Fauver about her decision not to run for re-election. He asked if she had any regrets.

Answered Fauver: “Had I been better educated by the administration about the financial state of the city, I would’ve voted for a small tax increase last year to help cover the pending budget shortfall and the impact of changes in the pension system. I was not fully educated and I would’ve gone along with a small tax increase if I had known all there was to know.”

Young Thomas then asked if there was any chance she might get to revisit that decision this year.

Said Fauver: “There is.”

The public-safety furloughs have taken a huge political toll on the denizens of City Hall over the last year. Groups like Atlantans Together Against Crime, which yesterday held a rally attended by the top three candidates for mayor, have put a great deal of pressure on the Council to find a way to return cops and firefighters to work.

In other words, the opposition to a tax increase is certainly weakening. It remains to be seen if it’s weakened enough to give Franklin the eight votes she needs.

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