Atlanta’s property tax revenues slipped yet again in the most recent fiscal year, highlighting what promises to be a budget-crafting session full of tough decisions about which city services get top priority in a time of squeezed resources.
Property tax collections for Atlanta’s general fund — a bucket that can be used for a wide range of purposes, including police, fire services and trash collection — dropped by $5 million or 3 percent in 2012, according to spreadsheets obtained this week by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through open records requests.
The city’s share of local property taxes, one of the city’s main sources of cash, was $162 million in 2012, down from $167 million a year before.
“We want to see that trend stop,” Mayor Kasim Reed said earlier this month at a meeting of the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists. “Once we get to the end of 2013, I think we will have bottomed out.”
An uptick in sales tax revenues is expected to offset some of that decline. As city leaders begin to craft the 2014 budget, the drop in the property tax collections highlights the need for tough decisions about how much cash to put toward street-sweeping, trash collection, raises for city employees and other things.
Last year, the city’s budget was crafted with minimal public controversy. But in briefings that lasted hours, members of the City Council took turns complaining of dirty streets and admitting to the city’s Department of Public Works that it would have to make do with less than it requested.
The $542 million budget passed in June called for hiring more police officers, adding up to the largest police force in the city’s history. It also added funding for Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, and doubled the city’s arts grant funding.
In December, a decision by the City Council to approve 50 percent raises for the winners of City Council elections this year sparked protests among rank-and-file city employees. Now those city workers are anticipating discussions with Reed and his staff this month about the possibility of their own raises.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Gina Pagnotta-Murphy, president of Atlanta’s Professional Association of City Employees. “Hopefully, we can go forward with a raise — a substantial raise.”
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