THE CITIES of Rome and Atlanta are governed very differently, with any application of terms like “wise” and “prudent” plainly reserved for our own hometown guiding hands.
Both dwell in the same state, of course, and are being buffeted by identical economic forces at the moment. Growth ain’t what it used to be and tax receipts are down.
In Rome, based on current trends, City Manager John Bennett foresees a possible shortfall of $560,000 in a $27 million budget. In Atlanta, Mayor Shirley Franklin projects a $70 million shortfall (some claim $140 million is more like it) on a budget of $583.9 million.
And therein may lie the start of a tale of two cities and two budgets as a reflection of how they have been governed for some time.
The two are not at all alike in most ways, of course, so the comparison is general and not exact. Atlanta has the expense of both problems and infrastructure that Romans, even those most pro-growth, hope never to see.
YET, INTERESTINGLY, Atlanta talks of itself as a city of 700,000 who “live and work” there as a reflection of what the budget must deal with. Its official population, as of 2006, stood at 486,411.
Those who use Rome bed-rooms are roughly 35,000 but under the “live and work” guideline the city could easily claim 70,000. In other words, about a tenth the size of what Atlanta copes with.
Yet Rome’s budget of $27 million is not a tenth that of Atlanta but more like one-twentieth.
In Rome, the projected shortfall is expected to be dealt with by squeezing pennies even harder and, if there is any force reduction, it would be by attrition and not layoffs. In Atlanta, Mayor Franklin laid off 441 city workers on top of the 347 unfilled positions that will be left empty and proposes a property-tax increase of about half a mill.
Rome foresees nothing like that and, if it taps its ample reserve funds, will do so only very slightly. Atlanta figures it will have to tap its $65 million reserves very heavily if, as city council members speculated, it is actually there. Gulp! They don’t know? Bet Rome city commissioners know the amount down to the penny ... and what banks it is in.
ROME HAS a deserved reputation for being very well managed, not only by Bennett but also the elected officials. Atlanta has a reputation, equally deserved, for graft, corruption, payroll padding and other activities reflective of a loss of control by those charged with municipal oversight.
Atlanta warns that, without the property-tax increase being approved, police and fire protection will have to be reduced with manpower cuts and station closings. The closest Rome comes to that is telling its officers to reduce patrol mileage in order to save on fuel costs.
Of course, Rome has tended in recent years, including the good times, to hold its millage rate steady or pare it back by slivers. Atlanta, on the other hand, whacked its property taxes from 9.02 mills ($9.02 on every $1,000 of assessed value) in 2002, Mayor Franklin’s first year in office, to 7.09 mills currently.
Mayor Franklin and the council majority are, of course, known to be Democrats and elections there are political. In Rome, elected commissioners are nonpartisan and few know their political allegiances so that’s no factor.
IT MAKES for an interesting comparison, doesn’t it? In one sense, it’s like comparing a grape to a grapefruit but in most others it tends to show the difference between being sensible and being much less so.
And, to be fair, let’s also observe that there’s no reason why Atlanta couldn’t have been run over the years the same way that Rome has been — and that Rome could have made all the mistakes that Atlanta has.
Still, sometimes it doesn’t hurt a bit to look around and see how our little city compares to the big-boy neighbors ... and be darn glad we live here and not there.
And, maybe, remember to say “Attaboy!” to local officials the next time we bump into them.
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