Atlanta City Council returned to work Monday after its spring recess, staring down a $20 million budget deficit, potential layoffs and an uncertain funding relationship with federal officials in Washington, D.C.
It figures to be one of the most difficult budget seasons in recent years, after Mayor Andre Dickens releases his proposed budget in May and the council begins hearings with department leaders later in the month. The council must pass a balanced budget before the end of June.
Council member Howard Shook, chair of the council’s Finance and Executive Committee, said city officials will be facing what he called a “no budget” instead of a “yes budget” for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
“City Council members are always quite keen to lobby the administration to make sure that programs and activities that they feel are particularly important are adequately funded,” Shook said, adding that council members often have been told “yes” to those priorities in past budget cycles. “That’s probably not going to be the case” next fiscal year.
Shook added that city departments making their funding pitches to Dickens’ office are either being denied or their requests will “have to be quantified.”
“I know they’re going to be looking to reduce head count, but I don’t know what form that’s going to take,” Shook said in an interview before Monday’s council meeting. “I think they’ll be more focused on people making the six-figure salaries that maybe, it turns out, are not 100% necessary to keep the lights on here.”
Last month, the city’s Department of Human Resources informed council members that departments looking to hire for vacant positions must get special approval from the mayor’s office as the city works to cut back on spending.
The hiring slowdown comes after city finance officials forecast a nearly $20 million budget deficit fueled by spending on overtime — particularly by public safety departments. It is unclear how the projected deficit might impact core priorities, such as building affordable housing and continued expansion of public safety agencies.
Department leaders have been asked to “assess and prepare for budget reductions” by analyzing the potential impacts of a cut at three levels — 5%, 7.5% and 10%.
City employees have also been mandated to return to in-person work at City Hall at least three days a week, a change that Shook noted could prompt some employees to look for work elsewhere.
Michael Smith, the mayor’s press secretary, said Monday that the administration’s proposed budget will be released by May 2.
“Updated projections will not be available until Finance presents the third-quarter report to City Council, which typically occurs in June,” he added in an email.
Shook said the budget review process begins in early May with hearings and said he hopes the council will vote on the spending plan on June 2. Budgets have traditionally been passed by the council during its last bimonthly meeting in June.
Dickens has said he’s concerned by the barrage of federal policy changes and uncertainty around crucial funding that is coming out of President Donald Trump’s White House.
“We’re going to be working with state leaders that have great relationships with federal leaders,” Dickens has said. “You have got to make sure you have relationships on the Republican side to be able to get this relationship off to a better start.”
So far, Trump’s administration hasn’t had a direct impact on the city’s budget process, Shook said.
Whether that will change, Shook said, is completely unpredictable.
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