Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s goal of winning voter support for a planned $250 bond referendum to fix roads, bridges and sidewalks is evident throughout the budget he proposed to the Atlanta City Council.
The proposed budget contains any number of programs and efforts that appear intended to create an environment where the message in a bond referendum campaign could be: “You can trust Atlanta to manage your tax dollars wisely and deliver projects and services as promised.”
A snapshot of the debt outlook for the proposed bond was included in a recent budget presentation. The snapshot lists the proposed issuance date in January 2015. Atlanta CFO James Beard said the published date should be one year later, 2016.
On Tuesday starting at 6 p.m., the council is slated to discuss the budget proposal during a combined public hearing and virtual town hall. Details about how to participate are listed at the bottom of this story.
The $565.5 million budget proposal provides for a reduction in the tax rate in order to offset the rising in property values. The intended result is that homeowners will not see a tax increase even as their homes gain value, Beard said. The budget year begins July 1 and the council is slated to adopt a budget at its June 16 meeting.
Here are details of the proposed $250 million bond issue as listed in the snapshot:
• The average annual debt service would be $16.5 million;
• The first payment would be July 1, presumably in 2016;
• The final maturity would be July 1, presumably in 2046;
• The average coupon rate would be 5.2 percent;
• The cost of issuance would be $4.86 million.
The annual debt service, of $16.5 million, is a central figure in many of the mayor’s recent announcements concerning the management of city assets.
The figure always floats in conversations about the proposal privatization of Underground Atlanta, the Civic Center and its 16-acre site, and Turner Field.
One proposal that hasn’t garnered much public attention is Reed’s suggestion to close the Eastside Tax Allocation District.
Doing so would provide proof that the city will end a program that arguably has done its job. The tax digest of the district has nearly doubled since 2003, from $329.7 million in taxable assessed value to $629.4 million in 2010, according to the most recent audit figure readily available. As the 2011 audit states:
• “To date, all projects have been completed and are performing well with the exception of Renaissance Walk, which Bank of America foreclosed on in late 2009.”
Still, there are those who contend the area still needs a lot of redevelopment and want to use the TAD to help finance it. As one commenter noted on a recent SaportaReport story, the Eastside TAD could benefit the future of Underground Atlanta, in addition to future developments along the Atlanta BeltLine and Atlanta Streetcar.
All that said, the mayor surely remember one of the lessons from the resounding defeat of the 2012 referendum on a 1 percent transportation sales tax: Voters don’t trust the government to be responsible stewards of a windfall amount of tax dollars.
Combined public hearing and virtual town hall
Physical location: Council Chamber, 55 Trinity Ave., Atlanta.
Virtual location: TV channel 26; www.atlantaga.gov. Click on the ATL City Channel 26 icon in the middle of the webpage and click on the words: “Watch Channel 26 Live” located on the left of the screen.
Ways to communicate:
• Email questions to atlantacouncil@atlantaga.gov
• Text questions to 404-392-0159
• Submit questions via twitter to @ATLCouncil and use the hasttag #atlbudget
• Phone questions to 404-330-6823