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Johns Creek council weighs $200 million growth forecast, agrees on COLA and park priorities
Summary
At an Aug. 11 work session Johns Creek council debated whether to use a $200 million FY2026 growth assumption and reached councilwide support to fund a cost‑of‑living adjustment and prioritize park projects from roughly $440,000 of available one‑time funds; staff will return with refined projections on Aug. 25.
At a work session on Aug. 11, the Johns Creek City Council opened a detailed review of the proposed FY2026 budget, focusing on whether to adopt a $200,000,000 property‑tax digest growth assumption and how to allocate an estimated $440,000 in available one‑time funds.
Assistant City Manager Love said staff prepared multiple scenarios and that the $200,000,000 figure reflects a five‑year digest average that includes reassessment and new growth; staff cautioned the number is a policy choice and recommended further modeling. "When I look back at the five years, it is well over $200,000,000," Love said. "It is a mathematical analysis that I did without assuming any policy changes."
Mayor Kaye and several council members said they were comfortable increasing the growth assumption from earlier conservative figures, while others urged restraint. Bob said past conservative budgeting avoided embarrassing shortfalls and warned against counting on an optimistic digest: "We fell short when we were overly optimistic," he said, urging caution on stretching projections.
Councilmembers discussed how to spend the roughly $440,000 one‑time allocation if the council adopts the larger growth estimate. Philippe proposed using part of the funds for a COLA adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index for urban areas — moving an assumed COLA from 2.1% to 2.7% — and the remainder for park projects, including Newton Park tennis and pickleball court lighting (approximately $300,000) and an adventure playground. Chris pressed to reserve funds for the adventure play area, calling it an important family amenity. Assistant City Manager Love gave staff estimates for those items and confirmed the COLA increase would cost about $153,000.
Several members asked staff to produce a clearer statistical model — for example, averages minus two standard deviations or segmented pre‑ and post‑COVID growth calculations — so the council could see probabilistic outcomes instead of a single point estimate. Council reached consensus to ask staff for additional numerical work and scheduled updated budget materials for the Aug. 25 work session.
Staff also flagged a potential $1.5 million overstated revenue line in building permits due to a double‑counting issue under review; officials said corrections, if required, will be reflected in the Aug. 25 packet. Assistant City Manager Love said July financials will be finalized by the end of the week and estimated the year‑end unassigned fund balance would add roughly $2.9 million to reserves under current assumptions.
The council did not take a formal vote on the growth number at the Aug. 11 meeting; staff will return with refined projections, a consolidated budget book update on Aug. 25 and a possible adoption vote on Sept. 8.
