When the 2010 fiscal year comes around, Atlanta government jobs will have been reduced by the thousands.

Mayor Shirley Franklin recently released her proposed 2010 budget for the City of Atlanta. Under that budget, the General Fund workforce will have decreased by 30 percent from 2001, from 5,617 workers to 3,934 workers. During the same time, the city has grown by 25 percent.

A recent analysis by Bain & Company noted that the Atlanta has moved from the second-worst performing city among major cities in the country in terms of efficiency to the second best.

The budget also would eliminate the furlough introduced in 2009 as a cost savings measure, meaning all city and public safety personnel will return to a 40-hour work week. The budget also includes nearly $60 million in savings initiatives.

On top of that, the property tax millage rate will increase by three mill, meaning the average Atlanta homeowner will see a 7 percent increase on their total property tax bill, or a $20 per month increase in property taxes. The increase is consistent with others that have occurred during recessions, including a two mill increase during 1991 and a three mill increase during 2001.

“Despite the fact that the city has seen an $88 million reduction in revenues as a result of this historic recession, we have a responsibility to ensure that basic municipal services are delivered”, Franklin said in a press release. “We have reduced spending through the furloughs, layoffs, and other measures. However, we must increase our revenues if we are to return our public safety and other core services to full-time operation.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 11:03 am and is filed under jobs, Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.