Atlanta City Council considers proposed police budget

ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council is considering a budget proposal for the Atlanta Police Department for fiscal year 2025.

At the budget hearing with the police department Tuesday, council members talked about what’s potentially on the table — about $270 million.

“It’s pretty much flat looking year over year, actually, where we see them ending up in FY 24. But we do anticipate an increase in staff positions,” said Atlanta City Council President Doug Shipman.

He said this figure increases if capital and operational investments are included.

“This year’s general fund budget is $303 million. That’s a record,” said Finance Committee Chairman Howard Shook. “However, if you add up all the public safety agencies, that’s about 60 percent of the entire general fund, which is actually down a few percentage points from the norm.”

11Alive asked Shook and Shipman about the priorities of APD’s proposed budget, and it sounds like staffing is important.

“The biggest thing is personnel; that’s 80 percent of their budget. And, as you know, we’re trying to build the force up to the goal of 2,000 troops. We’re at just over 1,600 now,” Shook said. . “So, with the pay improvements and some other sweeteners, we’re gaining ground. We’re now hiring and producing more than we’ve been trying to do each year. And there’s the first of two years of pay increases included in this budget. And we’re also looking at a pension enhancement as a separate bill, so we’re all hoping that will actually help us get to 2,000.”

Shook added that he hopes some of the “sweeteners” will help keep Atlanta competitive when recruiting police officers.

“This is a national competition for police officers,” Shook said. “It’s just dog eat dog.”

Shipman echoed Shook, saying staffing is the top priority.

“We’re obviously trying to make sure that we have full staffing when it comes to police officers, when it comes to non-police officers, when it comes to the 911 center. It there are investments in equipment like ride-on cars, body cameras, other types of equipment that they need,” Shook said. “So it’s really about making sure the department has the staff and equipment it needs to operate effectively.”

The city also anticipates major planned events, knowing that these require police personnel.

“If we want to continue to have World Cups and soccer championships and do all these things, we’re going to need 2,000 police officers,” Shook said.

He said some officers had been drafted to work at the city’s Public Safety Training Center site, which is still under construction.

“More spending had to be done to make sure this property remained vandal-free,” Shook said. “So there is a strong police presence there, unfortunately. It’s a bit of an escape. These are people we would like to see elsewhere, except to keep a training center. But it’s a necessity.”

Shipman said the APD chief provided the council with an update on the training center during the briefing and said a ribbon-cutting ceremony is expected to take place in December.

“The chief, in one of my questions, said that it will be fully operational by the end of the first quarter of 2025. So there will be more training that will take place. It will actually be quicker to bring people coming through the academy, it will not only be used by the police department, but also by the fire department and other departments,” Shipman said. “And then there are actually savings and rents that we won’t have to make anymore for the rented facilities because the training center will be open. But most of them won’t be in this budget. They will will be in the following year’s budget in 2026.”

Shipman added that there are a few other priorities, aside from personnel, in the proposed police budget.

“We talked a lot today about the difference between 911 and 311. So we invested in 911 and 311,” Shipman said. “So I think you continue to try to see investments so that the responsiveness of the department matches what residents expect.”

The municipal council is in the middle of a budget briefing with each municipal department. Information sessions will continue throughout the month, then council must approve a new municipal budget by the end of June.