Police spending up, parks funding down in Atlanta’s largest budget ever
The Atlanta Police Department is getting a $16.5 million budget increase in the upcoming fiscal year, while the city’s parks and transportation departments are taking a slight hit.
Mayor Andre Dickens’ $3.2 billion budget is the largest in Atlanta’s history, but not everyone is thrilled with the way the tax money is being allocated. The budget was approved by Atlanta City Council Monday with a 13-2 vote.
First-year council member Kelsea Bond blasted the city’s budget process before voting against the spending plan, calling it disheartening and undemocratic. Bond, who identifies with they/them pronouns, also said the final product doesn’t reflect their values or those of their constituents.
Dozens of city residents spoke out at meetings and budget hearings in recent weeks, imploring council members not to decrease Atlanta’s parks budget by nearly 5%.
But that’s what happened.
“I’m concerned about this year, but I’m more concerned about what this means in the future,” said Michael Halicki, president and CEO of Park Pride. “I think this could be an indicator of greater austerity to come if we’re not prioritizing things like parks that are essential to a well-run city.”
Halicki and others argued park maintenance should be prioritized in neighborhoods across the city, especially after Atlanta jumped into the top 20 cities nationally in the Trust for Public Land’s 2026 ParkScore rankings.
That was the result of increased investment and the city’s decision to double the Park Improvement Fund three years ago, he said. Now he fears Atlanta is “taking a step backwards” with its latest budget.
“When times get tough, parks is one of the first things you cut,” Halicki said, “and maintenance often bears the brunt of that.”
While the parks, transportation and city planning budgets are down in this year’s general fund, the city council budget is up by 28%, in part because each council district was allotted an additional $50,000 to spend.
Police budget grows again
Other residents complained that the city spends far too much on policing instead of addressing the types of systemic issues that frequently lead to law enforcement encounters in the first place.
Public safety spending, which includes police, fire, and corrections, accounts for about half of Atlanta’s $995 million General Fund budget. The general fund is up approximately 2% over last year’s budget, or by about $19 million.
Some argued it would wiser for the city to invest more money in diversion programs and mental health resources instead of boosting Atlanta’s police budget year after year.
“Our public safety system cannot rely solely on the police department,” community organizer and former City Council candidate Devin Barrington-Ward recently told council members.
He urged city officials to allocate more funding for policing alternatives, especially in cases involving mental health crises, substance abuse issues or homelessness.
“A lot of calls are being directed to 911 that could be going to PAD,” he said, referring to the Policing Alternatives and Diversion initiative that seeks to divert people from jail and connect them with resources instead.
Arresting low-level, non-violent offenders only exacerbates the poor conditions at the Fulton County jail, Barrington-Ward said.
The police department’s $324.4 million budget accounts for nearly a third of the city’s general fund for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1. The majority of the proposed funding increase will go toward salaries and pension payments as the department looks to bolster its ranks.
The fire department is also getting an $8.9 million boost to its budget, an increase of 6.5% from this fiscal year.
Dickens has said his administration will continue investing in police, firefighters and the city’s E-911 operators. He has vowed to purchase new vehicles, upgrade equipment and offer competitive pay for the city’s first responders.
“This budget sustains those investments and includes technology enhancements to support faster response times,” Dickens wrote in a letter included in his proposed budget.
The mayor also noted a drop in violent crime over the past several years and has touted the controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Center as a “clear example of how strategic investment delivers measurable results.”
Crime has dropped in large cities across the U.S. since the pandemic, however, and local experts have questioned whether Atlanta’s reduction in homicides is directly attributable to the mayor or the police department.
Regardless, Dickens’ administration said it will continue to fund public safety, work to build more affordable housing and keep funding youth initiatives.
Millage rate stays the same; Kelsea Bond blasts the budget process
Atlanta’s millage rate remains unchanged this year at 11.37 mills.
Barring exemptions, that means the owner of an Atlanta home valued at $400,000 can expect to pay $1,819.20 in city taxes, said Mohamed Balla, Atlanta’s chief financial officer.
That includes 9.52 mills for the general fund, 0.85 for bond millage and 1.00 for the city’s parks millage, he said.
Monday’s budget vote was delayed two weeks after council members lacked a quorum at a public hearing held last month during the intense storm that flooded interstates and brought traffic to a standstill.
Bond and Liliana Bakhtiari cast the two dissenting votes. It was the first time a Dickens budget wasn’t approved unanimously.
“In the future, I would really like to see a longer and more deliberative budget process,” Bond said. “I would like to see more transparency in the numbers that we are given and not just high-level descriptions of vague categories of funding.”
The first Democratic Socialist elected to Atlanta’s city council, Bond said too much of the budget is allocated to policing and surveillance, and not enough goes toward diversion or violence interruption programs. Bond also said more funding should go toward parks and working to improve dangerous sidewalks and street-crossings.