Atlanta asks city departments to evaluate budget cuts of up to 10%

Riley Bunch, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Mar 18, 2025

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ATLANTA Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ office has asked all department heads to analyze the potential impacts of budget cuts of 5% to 10%, after finance officials predicted a $20 million deficit at the end of the fiscal year in June.

In a March 6 letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the mayor’s office asked department leaders to “assess and prepare for budget reductions” by listing the potential impacts of a cut at three levels — 5%, 7.5% and 10%.

Chief Operating Officer LaChandra Burks and Chief Financial Officer Mohamed Balla requested that departments “evaluate and document the associated risks with each level of reduction,” from low-level operational changes to staff cuts and service disruptions.

The Dickens administration said in a statement that the city is working proactively to “identify, prioritize, and mitigate potential risks” ahead of adopting the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which will take effect July 1. The mayor’s office will produce a proposed budget this Spring, before the city council holds hearings on it with department leaders. The council typically passes a final budget at its last meeting in June.

“The City Charter mandates that the City adopt a balanced budget,” a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said. “Given FY25 projections, where expenses are outpacing revenues, each department was asked to identify areas of efficiency ahead of the FY26 budget development process.”

The $20 million deficit forecast last month is down from December, when the city’s finance team put the number at $33 million. By the end of June 2025, the Department of Finance anticipates a $77.9 million surplus in revenues but a $97.9 million overrun of expenses — putting the city over budget by 11%.

Longtime Council member Howard Shook, chair of the council’s Finance and Executive Committee, told the AJC he suspects that departments will have to make cuts.

“How big we don’t know,” he said. “We still have a lot of funded vacancies and you would think that those would be the first to get thrown over the lifeboat, before you start dealing with flesh-and-blood people.”

Shook said the upcoming budget process will be a dramatic change for council members and department leaders who have been used to surplus budgets in the past decade. Shook said it is unclear why the city is just now taking action to curb spending when economic conditions are similar to last year.

“This year, everyone slammed on the emergency brake all at the same time — what changed?” Shook said. “Why were we hiring hundreds of people the last two years that we might have to fire this year?”

Public safety spending is the highest contributor to the overrun. The Atlanta Police Department accounts for $51.5 million, or more than half the extra spending.

The city’s finance experts said that additional dollars toward law enforcement to fund programs like take-home police cars, salary increases for officers and spending on the public safety training center are the biggest drivers of the inflated costs.

Balla told council members in February that the mayor’s office has requested that the police department cut down on overtime, and that less security will be needed at the training center site now that it is open. He also pointed to events around the presidential election, funeral services for former President Jimmy Carter and multiple snowstorms that required additional officers on the clock.

“The police chief does feel like he has the resources he needs without utilizing as much overtime as they needed in the first half the year,” Balla said.

Kyle Kessler, policy and research director for the Civic Center for Innovation, told the AJC it’s not uncommon for local governments to ask departments to assess cuts ahead of the budgeting process. But the letter from the Dickens administration foreshadows a crackdown on spending.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen such an official call and not just general conversation about concerns related to declines in revenue and increases in spending,” he said. “It will be a very different conversation as we head into the public budget conversation for the city this year.”