Council approves City’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget
The Atlanta City Council on Monday unanimously approved the budget for Fiscal Year 2022, which begins July 1 (Legislative Reference №21-O-0250). The general fund budget totals approximately $710 million. The Council also approved the millage rate for the fiscal year (Legislative Reference №21-O-0243) and legislation adopting the personnel paper (Legislative Reference №21-O-0289).
The Fiscal Year 2022 budget includes:
• No increase in the City’s millage rate
• Increased funding through Operation Shield Camera to maintain and purchase public safety cameras and license plate readers
• Additional funding to help support operations of the Office of the Inspector General
• An increased budget for the Department of Transportation to install speed humps
Finance and Executive Committee Chair Jennifer Ide commended her City Council colleagues and the mayor following Monday’s vote.
“This year’s budget meets the goal that we have each year of adopting a budget that’s balanced, fiscally sound, and makes investments in our community. We worked together again remotely this year to tackle the complex budget issues that we’re facing, particularly as we navigate our recovery efforts from the pandemic. This year’s process was once again very collaborative and I commend the Council, our Research and Policy team, and the mayor and her staff for working together to address the needs of our city,” Ide said.
Other items approved Monday include:
• A communication from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms appointing Rodney Bryant to serve as chief of the Atlanta Police Department (Legislative Reference №21-C-0064).
• An ordinance requesting the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Atlanta Police Department complete a joint study to determine funding for the number of retired police officers that would be required through the Recapture Program to patrol Atlanta parks (Legislative Reference №21-O-0322).
• A resolution to establish a City of Atlanta-Fulton County Joint Committee consisting of representatives from the City of Atlanta and Fulton County to develop a framework to assist the Fulton County sheriff with severe overcrowding at the Fulton County Jail (Legislative Reference №21-R-3212).
• A resolution to declare the Atlanta spa mass shooting on March 16, 2021 as a disaster in accordance with United States Internal Revenue Code Section 139, designate the Asian Americans Advancing Justice — Atlanta Chapter as a financial vehicle for victims of disaster relief, and authorize the mayor or her designee to enter into any agreements necessary to effectuate this designation. This item was immediately adopted.
• An ordinance waiving portions of the City’s Procurement and Real Estate Code and authorizing the City to amend certain concession agreements at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for a period not to exceed 18 months as a result of the business impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Legislative Reference №21-O-0310).
• A resolution authorizing the mayor or her designee to apply for and accept a Police Reform and Racial Justice Grant from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the amount of $175,000 for the purpose of assisting the City’s efforts to achieve racial justice through police reform (Legislative Reference №21-R-3552).
• A resolution authorizing the mayor or her designee to execute a special procurement agreement on behalf of the City of Atlanta with Georgia State University for a study to determine the feasibility of creating a workforce career trade program, including the potential for the issuance of City of Atlanta workforce development bonds sustained through an employee opt-in payroll deduction for a term of six month, in an amount not to exceed $58,000. This item was immediately adopted.
Items were introduced to be considered in committee next week including:
• An ordinance authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to amend the Fiscal Year 2021 General Fund Budget by transferring funds from the General Fund to the Capital Finance Fund in an amount not to exceed $1 million on behalf of the Atlanta Department of Transportation to fund street light installation and improvements.
• An ordinance to transfer appropriations to various accounts to provide for up to $3.5 million for the purpose of contributing to the efforts of the nonprofit and philanthropic communities to provide individual shelter options with supported services for persons experiencing homelessness, to transfer appropriations to various accounts to provide for up to $500,000 in funds to provide funding for the Vaccination Equity campaign, and to ratify Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s Executive Order 2021–56.
• An ordinance to ratify Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ executive order and lift the moratorium on the acceptance of applications for permits or sub-permits for or relating to outdoor events governed by chapter 142 of the City’s Code of Ordinances at which the attendance is anticipated to be up to 19,999 persons. The ordinance states that the mayor’s Office of Special Events and the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation may resume accepting new applications for permits or sub-permits for or relating to such outdoor events, to provide that all such events may only occur in accordance with certain prescribed COVID-19 mitigation requirements, to provide that the moratorium on the acceptance of new applications for permits or sub-permits for outdoor events at which the attendance is anticipated to be 20,000 or more persons originally ratified by ordinance 20-o-1296, shall remain in place, and that the moratorium on the acceptance of new applications by the Atlanta Police Department for special events governed by Chapter 10, Article II, Division 3 of the City’s code of ordinances, originally ratified by 20-O-1296, shall remain in place.
• An ordinance to amend the City’s Code of Ordinance to eliminate the limit on the total number of bus shelters in the right-of-way.
• An ordinance to amend Chapter 150 of the City’s Code of Ordinance to create a new section entitled “Penalty for Parking Violations During Stadium or World Congress Center Events” to impose an increased penalty for illegal parking in the adjoining residential and commercial areas during large scale special events.
