(The Center Square) – The Atlanta City Council is beginning budget hearings amid concerns about what the future holds.
The 2026 fiscal year general fund budget proposed by Mayor Andre Dickens’ office is $975 million, an increase from $854 million in the fiscal year 2025 budget.
The budget takes into account cuts to several city positions in the current budget. Mohamed Balla, the city’s chief financial officer, said about 150 full-time positions are being cut.
“We are looking at and targeting non-essential workers,” Balla said. “So this targeted effort of absorbing attrition and kind of redistributing and restructuring departments is with minimal impact to service and front-line delivery.”
The job eliminations are mostly management-level and administration positions, he said. Between 50 and 75 have already been cut, with another 75 to 100 expected.
Budget writers said Atlanta’s economy will be affected by the impacts of tariffs and federal funding cuts, but would likely do better than other economies.
“One of the main reasons is we benefit from a diversity of industries,” Balla said. “We are also a growing region.”
The metropolitan area will add 2,300 jobs a month on average over the next 25 years, according to a report from the Atlanta Regional Commission included in the budget presentation. Personal income is predicted to increase by 5.5% between 2024 and 2029 between now and 2029. A 2024 report projected the 21-county metro area will grow to 7.9 million by 20259.
Atlanta or Georgia will not be immune to the effects of federal policies, though. A recession risk is tied to talks about tariffs, the council was told. National forecasting firm Polymarket is predicting a 56% risk for recession, according to the budget presentation.
The impact of tariffs will not be as devastating for the Peach State as trade with Canada, Mexico and China is not as sizable as in other states, the presentation said.
City council members at Tuesday’s budget hearing said they were concerned about the future economy.
“We may already be in a recession,” Councilman Alex Wan said.
The City Council will hear from departments in a series of budget hearings over the next few weeks. A vote on the FY2026 is on the agency for June 2. The budget year begins on July 1.
