Dunwoody’s police department stands to gain at least four more sworn officers under a 2013 budget proposal presented Monday night to the City Council.
The police force, one of the lowest staffed for a city its size in metro Atlanta, has 46 sworn officers for a population of 46,200.
That compares with 106 officers in Alpharetta with a population of 57,000, and 59 officers in Kennesaw, which has 33,000 residents.
The original budget proposal called for adding six officers, but the majority of City Council members could only agree on four. The additional two officers may be reinstated when the council takes a final look at the budget in two weeks.
Next year’s overall budget calls for $27.2 million in spending, compared with $23.9 million in the current year. The general fund budget — the part used for general operation of the city and its services — is $23.3 million.
The budget calls for $1.6 million in expenses, about 6 percent of the overall budget, for parks at Project Renaissance, the city’s public-private partnership initiative to revitalize the Georgetown area. It also boosts spending on police by about $800,000.
City leaders expect no increase in the property tax rate, despite an anticipated drop in revenues.
Finance Director Christopher Pike said funding comes from a diverse group of sources, including franchise fees, grants and the countywide homestead option sales tax.
Revenues in the HOST exceeded expectations by more than $2 million this year, Pike said, and some of that surplus is being used to supplement the 2013 budget.
“We’re not going to be able to spend all that [surplus] money in 2012, because there simply isn’t time,” Pike said.
Dunwoody’s tax rate on property is capped at 3.04 mills, but the city expects to continue to assess commercial and residential property below that level, Pike said.
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