Last month, Mayor Andre Dickens and union leaders celebrated the final passage by the City Council of the first comprehensive compensation study in nearly 15 years. The new pay plan bumped up the salaries of city employees and Atlanta’s first responders.
But not everyone is happy with the results. Fire union leaders say that their members were left with a minimal increase after changes to the study brought down the initial recommendation from a base pay of $75,000 annually to $68,000.
After a second draft of the study removed higher paying cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, the total city investment in firefighter salaries dropped from $8.6 million to $3.7 million.
Nate Bailey is the president of the Atlanta Professional Firefighters, a union that represents hundreds of the city’s firefighters and paramedics.
He testified at City Council last week that the final results of the pay study were “devastating” and that most lieutenants would only see a salary increase of about $58 per year while higher ranking chiefs saw a significant bump.
“If we don’t change that pay plan, we might not recover,” he told City Council members last Tuesday. “Because this is a two-year implementation and all the cities and counties around us, their top firefighter pay is over $70,000.”
Bailey said that the union is pushing for collective bargaining powers.
A spokesperson for the Dickens administration pushed back against the union’s position, saying that the changes to the study were to ensure that every employee received at least a 2% pay increase by Jan. 25. The mayor’s office said that the study also left out cities such as Augusta, Columbus and Albany that would have decreased salaries.
“There is always more work to be done, however Mayor Dickens and City Council have made significant investments in the men and women of AFRD, their facilities and the equipment they use to keep our communities safe,” a spokesperson for the mayor said.
City leaders point to dollars allocated for new equipment, vehicles, stations and the soon-to-open public safety training facility as large investments in the Atlanta’s firefighters.
“Mayor Dickens has been great to us — the pension changes are going to be outstanding, and Lord knows how much these fire trucks cost,” Bailey said. “But with the pension changes, we got to have a competitive salary, and that’s what we’re asking for.”
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TNS
TNS
The deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County has renewed calls from Democratic lawmakers for the state to crack down on gun control policies. That includes Atlanta lawmakers, who say Republican policies are ensuring widespread access to firearms.
Council member Amir Farokhi — whose Midtown district was shaken after a shooting at the Northside Medical Midtown last year — said there’s “an easy policy fix” to stop these types of tragedies from happening over and over again.
“High capacity assault weapons do not belong on our streets, much less in the hands of a 14 year old,” he said referencing the student shooter in Barrow County. “Yet, cowardly politics has, tragically, made these news conferences normal in America.”
Atlanta State Sen. Jason Esteves echoed the council member’s sentiments.
“Assault rifles like the AR-15 do not belong on our streets but in Georgia you can carry them out in the open without a permit thanks to Republican state leaders,” he said. “This kind of an environment has consequences. Georgians deserve better.”
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Buckhead Community Improvement District
Buckhead Community Improvement District
A big chunk of federal money is on its way to Buckhead. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the north Atlanta neighborhood $10 million through its Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program for the construction of an elevated pedestrian and bicycle bridge.
The massive project would stretch overtop of the Lenox Road intersection with Ga. 400 and is aimed at preventing crashes on the stretch that’s known for accidents. According to the USDOT, the area saw over 1,000 accidents within a 3-year period.
The chunk of funding was awarded to the The Buckhead Community Improvement District to partner with the City of Atlanta and the Georgia Department of Transportation on the project. The proposal is part of the Lenox Road Complete Safe Street project that will create a 1.25-mile pedestrian corridor between the Lenox MARTA station and Piedmont Road.
“The Safe Streets and Roads for All funding is essential to help us transform this section of Lenox Road and provide safe, easy access for pedestrians and cyclists to reach the Buckhead and Lenox MARTA stations and many other locations in the Buckhead core,” said Jim Durrett, executive director of Buckhead Community Improvement District in news release.
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