Sample of recommendations to save cash or generate revenue:
- Streamline city's real estate portfolio. Selling Underground Atlanta, transferring Cyclorama, and consolidating government offices saves the city about $11 million annually, he said. (Consolidating offices when leases expire can save the city about $3 million alone, he said.)
Use city property for a billboard and marketing initiative to generate up to $5 million in annual revenue in coming years.
Sell city real estate. Consolidate government offices. A hiring freeze. Reduce healthcare costs and maximize pension returns. These are some of the ways Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed plans to pay for a bond tackling a billion-dollar backlog of infrastructure needs.
Speaking at a Tuesday news conference, Reed outlined ways the city can fund a bond worth up to $250 million, pending voter approval in 2015. The millions would help chip away at a growing list of needed repairs to roads, bridges and sidewalks.
Reed anticipates taxpayers would have to pay roughly $16.5 million annually to pay back the debt. To make sure that obligation is covered, Reed said that he wants to set aside $21 million in annual savings.
“There is no dispute the minimum number of infrastructure (needs) in Atlanta is $900 million. The question is how are we going to pay for it?” Reed said, adding he didn’t want to take on a quarter billion in debt without being “comfortably able to afford it.”
Many of the measures were proposed by a 16-member blue ribbon commission Reed convened earlier this year to identify cost-saving and revenue-generating strategies. Chaired by Delta CEO Richard Anderson and District 7 Councilman Howard Shook, the commission wrapped up its final report last month.
Reed has begun implementing some of the most attention-getting measures: selling myriad city properties.
The mayor has made repeated headlines for spurring real estate deals including the potential sale of Underground Atlanta and The Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, not to mention transferring the Cyclorama from the city’s control to the Atlanta History Center.
Atlanta officials are reviewing bids to purchase Underground, which would save the city about $8 million a year, he said. And he anticipates a sale of the Civic Center could garner more than $45 million. Moving Cyclorama saves the city up to $1 million in annual maintenance and employee costs, he said.
Reed’s administration is also helping negotiate a potential deal with filmmaker Tyler Perry to buy a large portion of Fort McPherson and is courting buyers for Turner Field once the Atlanta Braves leave for Cobb County.
Reed said his administration is reviewing Atlanta’s real estate portfolio and is likely to shed more property.
“The fact of the matter is a lot of this stuff should’ve been done a long time ago,” he said, later adding: “So we’re going to keep doing it and do it quickly. We’re going to do it quickly and do it right.”
Reed said he also wanted to address perceived “uneasiness” about the rapid pace of the deals. He defended his team’s ability to manage several real estate transactions by pointing to projects such as Ponce City Market and EUE/Screen Gems Studios as successful redevelopment deals during his tenure. And he noted the administration works with the Atlanta Committee for Progress, a group of CEOs and academic leaders, for guidance on the deals.
“We’re not just doing these things in some uncoordinated fashion,” Reed said.
Anderson, a member of the ACP group, praised the mayor’s real estate decisions.
“I think this mayor in every instance has done a remarkable job in taking properties (that were in bad shape) and taking them off the city’s balance sheet,” he said.
Post 2 At-Large Councilwoman Mary Norwood, a member of the commission, said she agreed with the mayor’s decisions. Still, Norwood said the council needs to see the final figures for recurring savings in coming months.
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