Brookhaven City Council has unanimously approved the fiscal year 2024 budget, coming in at $35.4 million for the general fund spending. The police department’s salaries take up $8 million of the budget.
City Manager Christian Sigman described the budget as “a plan for good operations,” focused on the city council’s policies and 12 master plans. The 300-page document is available online.
“Every budget process has a theme, and I think this year’s theme is steady progress. Steady progress on quality services, and steady progress on approved capital projects. But I think steady progress is also no tax increase. The tax rate stays the same at 2.74. It has not changed from 2016, and is one of the lowest rates in DeKalb County,” Sigman said at the first read of the budget on Nov. 14.
City staff and hourly employees’ pay and health benefits are the general fund’s largest line items. City staff members are eligible to receive a performance-based salary increase – $635,000 of the FY24 budget – and hourly employees’ minimum wage is increasing to $15.36 per hour.
Salaries for the mayor and city council members, set in the city charter, are increasing in 2024. The mayor will earn $46,800 and each city council member will earn $31,200 — among the highest municipal salaries in the metro Atlanta area.
More than half of the city’s salary budget goes to the Brookhaven Police Department. The BPD budget includes staffing a lieutenant, operations manager, detective, and an office clerk. The public defender compensation is being increased by $50,000.
Councilmember John Funny was behind “anything we can do to continue supporting our police department.”
The communications department expects to add a social media coordinator and an administrative assistant.
The FY24 budget allocates $1.2 million in eligible expenditures from the general fund to the Special Service District (SSD) to cover the Brookhaven Police Department citywide camera operations at $600,000 and Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival at $340,000; and “indirect cost allocation” of $234,000.
That means the funding available for other SSD projects is less $1.2 million. It’s unknown which SSD projects will be impacted, according to a memo.
The city established a dedicated email address posted on its website to collect feedback on the FY24 budget.
“We did not get any comments on it,” said Sigman. “I did get a few phone calls from residents asking very basic questions, but no comments on the city website.”
Bill Dunn, park coordinator for the Lavista Park Civic Association, spoke in support of a master plan for his neighborhood during public comment.
“A master plan could help lay out a vision for restoration and improvement, reconstruction or replacement of the drainage control structure” Dunn said, adding the beloved three-acre park contains old growth trees and native plants.
