'A little bit out of control': Atlanta council questions mayor's budget

Riley Bunch, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 7, 2025

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ATLANTA — Atlanta City Council members warned Dickens administration officials Tuesday that the mayor’s proposed spending increases for next year — particularly across public safety — go too far as the city faces the harsh reality of a potential recession.

For months before the start of Atlanta’s budget season, the mayor’s office worked to quietly reduce a $33 million projected deficit this year by cutting spending by at least 5% across departments.

No public announcement was ever made about layoffs or departmental cuts; the administration acknowledged the cuts only after being asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution how it planned to make up the deficit.

Those cuts included slashing about 150 full-time city jobs, finance officials said Tuesdayduring the first budget hearing for the new fiscal year. Chief Financial Officer Mohamed Balla said the city still needs to cut around 100 of those positions before the new budget year begins July 1.

But Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ fiscal year 2026 spending proposal, released last week, recommends a $975 million general fund budget — 14% more than last year, with big increases to some departments.

The numbers came as a shock to many council members, who have growing concerns about a recession caused by Trump administration tariffs and the anticipated inflation that could result.

“I came into this process expecting a more conservative stance from the city in terms of what we are committing to,” council member Alex Wan said. “We may already be in a recession.”

Many of Wan’s colleagues echoed the same concerns, particularly related to big boosts to public safety spending. The Atlanta Police Department accounts for more than half the budget overrun, thanks to an unexpected lack of attrition and overtime, officials have said.

But under the mayor’s budget proposal, APD would get nearly a 20% increase. The administration argues the jump — more than $50 million — accounts for this year’s departmental overrun.

Council member Dustin Hillis, former chair of the public safety committee and advocate of updates to the city’s fire fleet, pointed to the proposed more than 37% budget increase for the Department of Corrections.

“It does seem to be getting a little bit out of control,” he said.

The city’s chief operating officer, LaChandra Burks, said the fiscal year 2026 budget increases still take into account the 5% departmental cuts the administration ordered this year.

“While it looks like we’re making huge increases in some departments — or increases at all — it really is us going to the point of rightsizing where departments are projected to spend in FY25,” she said.

But while defending the increases in spending, the city’s finance officials gave a stark depiction of the country’s economic climate. They cited the latest projection of a 56% chance the country will fall into recession.

“There’s a growing national concern of a recession in 2025 — which is our fiscal year 2026 — due to factors like rising tariffs and slowing growth,” Balla said.

Council members responded by saying the city should be more careful with its spending than what the mayor is proposing.

“I think it’s awfully hard to make assumptions with the record of uncertainty and turmoil that’s out there,” said council member Howard Shook, the body’s longtime budget chief.

City leaders cited concerns about a drop in revenue, particularly related to Atlanta’s tourism industry. Around 51 million visitors flocked to Atlanta last year, but those numbers are expected to drop significantly because of federal-level policy changes.

The mayor’s office cites increased hospitality revenues from the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup as a reason to be optimistic, but council members said they weren’t so sure — especially with a lengthy list of infrastructure projects to get done before the international event.

“As a city, I think that we are a little bloated, if I’m being completely honest,” council member Marci Collier Overstreet said. “Right now is not the time for that.”