City of Atlanta ends furloughs

July 9, 7:53 PMAtlanta Political Buzz ExaminerEwa Kochanska

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Yesterday, July 8^th, the City of Atlanta ended unpopular furloughs on the city employees that started in December 2008 to help offset a $56 million budget deficit.

Two weeks ago, the City Council approved a property tax increase to bring the city workers back to their full schedules and help balance the budget.

As of July 9, the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and Atlanta Fire Rescue (AFR) eliminated furloughs and will be allowed to fill all positions authorized in the budget. Today is the first day since December ’08 that the Fire Station 23 on Howell Mill Road was open.

"The neighborhood and the area in general are ecstatic that the station is reopening," says Michael Wagoner, president of the Berkeley Homeowners Association.  "We've been fighting for this for a number of months."

On average, Atlanta homeowners will pay $240 a year more as a result of the tax hike. However, having more firefighters and policemen on full duty will actually bring down some of the taxes homeowners are paying due to a better ISO* rating. ISO measures the city’s readiness to respond to a fire emergency and it dropped from 2 to 4 in recent months (the lower the number the better). 

State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine says that just restoring the public safety units back to full duty will result in a better rating.

In addition to public safety changes, the City Hall will reopen on Fridays once again and the Office of Parks will restore a five-day work- week with a nine-day maintenance cycle instead of the 11-day maintenance cycle that took place during the furlough time period.

Sources: City of Atlanta  WSBRADIO 

*ISO collects information on municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. In each of those communities, ISO analyzes the relevant data using our Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). We then assign a Public Protection Classification from 1 to 10. Class 1 generally represents superior property fire protection, and Class 10 indicates that the area's fire-suppression program doesn't meet ISO’s minimum criteria. source