The city of Atlanta plans to ask state legislators for the authority to raise more money from alcohol sales, traffic fines and jail booking fees, according to a legislative wishlist approved by the City Council this month.
The city would like to increase the E-911 fee to help recoup $16 million in costs. It also wants its municipal courts to add a 10 percent surcharge to any criminal or traffic fine — amounting to roughly $500,000 for the city, which it would use to fund court programs.
Atlanta asked for several tax increases on alcohol. One proposal, a 5 percent excise tax by-the-drink on beer and wine, would raise an estimated $4.5 million every year, according to a document approved by the City Council this month. The proposal is similar to others that have failed to make headway under the Gold Dome in years past, said City Councilman Howard Shook.
“Some of this stuff is just dead on arrival,” said Shook, who represents part of Buckhead. “There are a lot of things that never seem to go anywhere. But then things that get frozen suddenly go somewhere.”
Bob Amick, president of Atlanta-based Concentrics Restaurants, said restaurant sales are already volatile, and an added tax would not help.
“Restaurants are closing all over this town,” said Amick, whose company includes TAP in Midtown and Murphy’s in Virginia-Highland. “This is only going to make it even more cost prohibitive to dine out.”
The Georgia Restaurant Association also argued that added taxes would hurt local businesses.
“We are concerned that the proposed tax increases could seriously jeopardize the growth that we all seek in Atlanta,” said Karen Bremer, the group’s executive director.
In another proposal, the wholesale excise tax on the sale of distilled spirits by the package would rise 50 percent in Atlanta, from 22 cents to 33 cents per liter. The tax currently generates $10 million in tax revenues, and would rise by $5 million with the change, according to estimates.
Atlanta’s jail would also get more than $2.1 million in additional funding if the legislature approves separate provisions to allow the jails to raise the booking and bonding fees.
Atlanta also wants the freedom to invest pension funds in “alternative financial instruments,” including private equity, hedge funds, real estate, infrastructure and commodities.
Until 2010, Georgia was the only state in the country that did not allow public pension plans to invest in alternative investments, according to a legislative agenda approved by the City Council this month. The current law only allows the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund to invest up to $1.2 million in alternative investments.
The city’s defined benefits pension plans are limited in the type of investment vehicles they are allowed to invest in, “which significantly hampers their ability to maximize their return on investment,” according to the legislative document. Those restrictions also prevent the flow of cash to startups, hampering entrepreneurs’ efforts, according to the legislative document.
Atlanta’s success or failure in the current session will depend on its ability to block measures that would shift financial burdens from the state level onto the city, Shook said.
“The most important work that gets done is on the defensive side of the ball,” he said. “It’s what we manage to stop or amend that gets proposed by other people.”
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