Pension Reform Fuels Atlanta's Budget

By Charles Edwards

Atlanta, GA – In her second year on Atlanta's City Council, Keisha Lance Bottoms has noticed a change.

"It felt really good this year to actually have money to talk about spending," said Bottoms. "This is a very different process than last year."

There is something different about the $547 million budget the Council unanimously passed Thursday. It continues an effort to beef up public safety.

"We're getting pretty close to 4 firefighters on an apparatus, which is very helpful," said Council member Howard Shook." "You're going to be seeing more cops. We've made a huge investment there."

Atlanta is inching closer to a long standing goal of 2,000 police officers. The budget also includes federal money designated to hire firefighters. However, the spending plan also allocates funding for security at Piedmont Park and Oakland Cemetery as well as restores 8 key positions to the city's parks and recreation department.

"They're the people who mow the grass, trim the lawn and pick up the litter," said Parks Commissioner George Dusenbury. "The people you see out there doing the work to make sure the parks look good. These were very important frontline workers."

The city found money for those and other initiatives without laying off workers or raising property taxes.

"This budget is a clear signal that the city of Atlanta's operation and functions are moving in the right direction," said Mayor Kasim Reed.

Despite a third straight year of declining revenues, Reed says Atlanta's once drowning finances are slowly swimming towards the surface. For that, he credits the pension reform the Council unanimously passed on Thursday. In a news conference after the vote, the Mayor and Council stood together in a show of unity. However, the fierce pension debate often separated both sides as well as employee unions during the 16 month-long city wide conversation over sweeping retirement changes.

Reed constantly defended his self-described intentions of righting Atlanta's financial ship against frustrated city workers fearful of change. The Mayor re-directed that frustration towards City Council. At one point, he accused City Council President Caesar Mitchell of trying to "kill pension reform". Reed led the pension reform effort. However, Mitchell says it was at the Council level where the final pension plan was created.

"It took a lot of hard work. I think it took a spirit of collaboration," said Mitchell. "It also took us looking and thinking outside the box about what the possibilities are."

The final plan was a hybrid of proposals from Council members Yolanda Adrean and Felicia Moore. By reducing benefits to future employees, it's estimated to save $22 million in the fiscal year that started today. It also allows some existing employees to keep their retirement plans in exchange for contributing an extra 5% of their pay towards their pension.

That sacrifice fueled a debate about increasing employee pay. While talk of increasing workers' cost of living adjustment by 1% never materialized, the Council did set aside up to $2.3 million for performance-based raises.

"It's only fair to try to help them have a decent take home pay," said Council member C.T. Martin. "For me, the real issue is that they have something to take home."

A larger discussion about merit raises could start later this month when Human Resources Commission Yvonne Yancey unveils results of a pay study.