$47.5 Million Budget Proposed For Brookhaven FY 2019

BROOKHAVEN, GA – A balanced budget of $47.5 million has been proposed by Brookhaven's city manager to the mayor and city council. The proposed balanced budget totals $47,568,301 in direct expenditures. The general fund budget, which funds the city's day-to-day operations, totals $27.7 million, a 1.55 percent increase from the 2018 revised budget.

“The 2019 Proposed Budget supports the city’s existing planning documents, each created with public input, and is reflective of prudent financial and operational management,” said City Manager Christian Sigman. “These recommendations advance the progress of our master plans and does so without an increase in the property tax rate.”

Other features on the 2019 Proposed Budget include:

• The budget is structurally balanced with revenues exceeding expenditures.
• The 2.74 millage rate is unchanged and remains one of the lowest in the region.
• The number of full-time positions is the same as it was in 2016.
• Major construction projects will occur on the public safety facility and the Peachtree Creek Greenway in 2019.
• Additional right-of-way maintenance funding of $150,000 is included.
• The City Clerk’s Office budget increases $40,000 for local elections in November 2019.
• The newly empaneled Brookhaven Arts Committee is funded at $20,000.
• Funding includes a 3.0% average merit-based employee salary adjustment.
• Funding for economic development activities will be shared between the City of Brookhaven and the Brookhaven Development Authority.

The 2019 Proposed Budget does not include any funding for implementation of capital projects under the Parks and Recreation Master Plan under the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) in November 2017, due to the elimination of parks capital funding under the Homestead Option Sales Tax (HOST). On July 24, 2018, the city council approved placing a $40 million park bond referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot. Learn more about the referendum here.

One topic which drew the attention of the city council was the $300,000 allocation for new sidewalk construction in 2019.

“Brookhaven has an aggressive and comprehensive sidewalk plan which was driven by citizen input, yet the funding is not there for meaningful progress,” said District 2 City Councilmember John Park. “The Brookhaven Public Works Department has been bringing in the 2018 projects under budget, so I propose that when the books are reconciled in January, any and all savings are rededicated to new sidewalks in 2019. This would be in addition to the $300,000 that is already allocated.”

“We have made remarkable progress in sustainable transit options with new sidewalk construction, but I remain concerned about the status and the safety of our existing sidewalk infrastructure,” said District 1 City Councilmember Linley Jones. “Some of the old sidewalks that we inherited are in dire need of attention. We need to address this holistically if we are serious about being a walkable community. A citywide assessment of all existing sidewalks, similar to the Pavement Condition Index that we use for roads, should be conducted at the earliest opportunity in 2019 so we can develop and appropriate funding strategy.”

Sigman noted a major policy focus for 2019 will be affordable housing. The administration recommends a review of the Senior Property Tax Exemption in 2019 if real property digest growth exceeds the projections in this 2019 Proposed Budget.

“I am pleased the City Manager is recommending a review of the senior property tax exemption. This should help our seniors, who tend to be on a fixed income, remain in their homes. Combined with the pending city zoning rewrite and the economic development tools being drafted, the city council is taking an additional purposeful approach to addressing affordable housing,” said District 4 City Councilmember Joe Gebbia.

Public hearings on the proposed FY 2019 budget will be held at these regularly scheduled City Council meetings:

Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m.

“This budget proposal is a solid start, and I look forward to working with the City Council and hearing citizen input on the 2019 budget,” said Mayor John Ernst.

District 3 Councilmember Bates Mattison said, “Public input is the key ingredient to establishing our budget priorities in the upcoming year. I hope everyone will come to the budget hearings and let us know what they think.”

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