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East Point council schedules special budget meeting, orders one‑page department summaries
Summary
Facing public outcry over a proposed FY27 budget and requests for line‑item transparency, the council directed the city manager to compile one‑page department summaries (FY26 accomplishments, FY27 projects, and major changes) and set a special called meeting for June 23 at 7 p.m. to review the material.
Amid sustained public comment about the proposed FY27 budget and multiple council requests for line‑item detail, the East Point City Council on June 15 directed the city manager to prepare concise department deliverables and scheduled a special called budget meeting for June 23 at 7:00 p.m.
Public commenters at the June 15 meeting criticized the proposed budget’s presentation and level of consolidation. Greg Fan warned the council against deficit spending and possible tax increases; Jackie Slaughter and Ernestine Pitman demanded line‑by‑line transparency and urged council oversight of manager and department budgets. The public comment period included appeals to protect seniors from utility cutoff and accusations that the budget lacked adequate supporting data.
In response the council debated a range of approaches — from a full night of department presentations to a condensed, staff‑driven packet — and ultimately adopted a substitute motion that balances staff time and council oversight. The city manager was directed to compile a one‑page package from each direct report (department director or deputy) that includes: • FY26 accomplishments; • Proposed FY27 projects (itemized); • Major changes from FY26 to FY27 shown clearly.
Each department’s presentation at the June 23 special meeting will be capped at five minutes. Council also directed staff to consolidate council‑submitted trackers and to add staff responses into the shared document so councilors can review answers in advance. During debate council members emphasized they were not seeking to block the entire budget — many line items are uncontroversial — but wanted the remaining contested items and manager-level consolidated allocations made explicit before any final vote.
Councilmembers said the special session is intended for deliberation and understanding rather than an immediate vote to adopt the budget; formal adoption will follow the usual procedural steps once council has had the chance to review the one‑page department summaries and staff responses.
Next steps: staff will compile the one‑page summaries and the consolidated tracker with staff responses; council will meet in a special session June 23 to discuss outstanding questions and issue further direction that will feed into the formal budget adoption timeline.
