BRADENTON, Fla. - The Atlanta City Council's Finance/Executive Committee plans to hold a combined public hearing and virtual town hall meeting on the fiscal 2016 budget to ask residents about their thoughts on spending priorities.
The hearing will be broadcast live May 18 on City Channel 26 and streamed on the city's website.
The proposed total budget is $1.97 billion, an increase of $76.8 million or 4.05% over the current budget.
The general fund portion of the budget for operating expenses is expected to be $590.5 million, an increase of $22.6 million or 3.97%.
The spending plan is balanced without appropriating any fund balance because the city has eliminated deficits in several programs, Atlanta chief financial officer Jim Beard said in a presentation.
Pension reform measures instituted several years ago are "working as expected" with funded percentages trending in the right direction, he said, adding that the city's required contributions are significantly below pre-reform amounts.
The 2016 budget will have about 23% in unrestricted funds, and 2.5% or $15 million in reserves.
Beard said the balanced budget offers the city an opportunity to present a "strong case" to seek rating upgrades based on similar metrics of other major cities.
Those metrics include Atlanta's plans to issue $252 million in voter-approved general obligation infrastructure bonds before the end of fiscal 2015.
Even with the additional leverage, Beard said the city's debt levels will remain the same as in fiscal 2010 due to anticipated fee and fine increases totaling $13.9 million.
City officials will make presentations to rating agencies on the upcoming deal later this month.
The city's GO bonds are currently rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor's.
