Sandy Springs City Council Special Called Meeting – FY 2027 Budget Workshop 3

On Tuesday, May 26, 2026, at 2:00 PM, the Sandy Springs City Council held a Special Called Meeting in the Barfield Conference Room at Sandy Springs City Hall for FY 2027 Budget Workshop 3, the final budget workshop before adoption. Mayor Rusty Paul presided, with Councilmembers John Paulson, Melody Kelley, Melissa Mular, Frank Roberts, Mary Ford (participating remotely), and Andrew J. Chinsky present. City Manager Eden E. Freeman presented the Proposed FY 2027 Budget, supported by Chief Financial Officer Toni Carlisle. The meeting adjourned at 2:59 PM. Note: the agenda lists this agenda item as 2026-143, while the minutes refer to it as 2026-127.

Discussion Items

Budget Process and Calendar

City Manager Freeman recapped the budget calendar: Workshop 3 occurred on May 26, 2026; the first public hearing is scheduled for the next regular Council meeting on Tuesday, June 2, 2026; and the final public hearing plus budget adoption vote is scheduled for June 16, 2026. Budget principles remain unchanged: conservative revenue and expense estimates, and no use of one-time revenues for ongoing expenditures. All proposed expenses are tied to Council's adopted priorities from the January 2026 Council Retreat.

Follow-Up Items from Prior Workshops

• Grants Administrator: The Grants Administrator is the City's central coordination point for grant research, compliance, reporting, amendments, audit support, and interdepartmental communication. The City currently manages approximately $9,422,550 in grants and has been awarded $6,623,773 in grants since 2024. A Fulton County Arts grant of $27,000 was received with an additional year-end addendum.
• RedSpeed: The City receives 65% of paid citation revenue and RedSpeed receives 35%. Based on Council's prior guidance, staff will meet with the vendor later in the week to discuss a possible one-year extension with renewal options; the agreement will be presented at the June 16, 2026 City Council meeting. The City Manager explained that including renewal options preserves Council's flexibility and addresses the effect of new legislation while still allowing Council to decline renewal.
• Operating Budget Assumptions: Assumptions are largely unchanged from Workshop 1, including a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for employees, increased health insurance costs, increased general liability insurance, increased support for contract services (animal control, North Fulton Regional Radio Authority, public works and recreation/parks subcontractor agreements), and continued EMS subsidy funding. Staff has interviewed three third-party administrators about a potential move to a self-funded health insurance program; final projections are pending year-end numbers, so the FY2027 budget conservatively assumes a worst-case scenario, with additional information to be provided later in the year.
• Public Works Subcontractor Correction: In response to Councilmember Kelley's question about a discrepancy between presentations, the City Manager and CFO confirmed that the correct FY2027 public works subcontractor amount is $6.189 million. A $240,000 add-back covers utility marking ("potholing")—the required identification of underground infrastructure before work is performed—which staff described as a state unfunded mandate. Staff acknowledged slide inconsistencies (some slides showed $6.418 million) and committed to correcting the materials.

General Fund Expenditures by Department

The City Manager reviewed the FY2027 General Fund line item budget department by department:

• City Council: nominal increases.
• Office of the City Manager: decreases reflecting the transfer of two positions to the new Office of Innovation & Delivery, separately budgeted at $883,200, with the major associated expense being implementation of a new citywide customer relationship management (CRM) system.
• City Clerk's Office: decreases largely because no election is budgeted in FY2027.
• Finance: largest operational increase is in technical services supporting systems including DocuSign, Laserfiche, Munis, DebtBook, and Bonfire.
• Human Resources: professional services increase in part because the health insurance broker cost moves from the Cigna line item to a direct City-paid line.
• Facilities: increased repairs and maintenance, including HVAC support, parking deck doors, landscaping, fountain maintenance, and miscellaneous building repairs.
• Communications: contractual increase in the call center; website enhancement costs for security, document repository improvements, and development hours.
• General Administration: technical services include CRM implementation; professional services include bond administration, asset recovery, insurance brokerage, financial advisor fees, tax commissioner collection fees, arbitrage work, and citywide identity theft protection for employees.
• Municipal Court: increases limited to compensation and benefit adjustments.
• Police: technical support for the intelligence operations center, a narcotics/chemical identification device, ballistic shields, K-9 tracking support, and radar units.
• Fire: replacement of an aerial apparatus and engine, plus a bonus structure intended to maintain parity with Police.
• Emergency Management: annual preparedness exercise, drone program, and AVIVE AED program.
• Public Works: fiber optic asset-management transition, network management, utility marking, traffic pole maintenance, streetlight maintenance and painting, and two replacement sand and salt spreaders.
• Recreation and Parks: new recreation management software, increased program supplies, and park site improvements.
• Community Development: additional costs for the Comprehensive Plan to ensure significant public engagement.
• Other Financing Uses: transfers from the General Fund for debt service, fleet purchases, the Performing Arts Center, capital programs, and stormwater.

Personnel Comparison

Councilmember Kelley asked how the City's personnel count compares to peer cities. City Manager Freeman responded that Sandy Springs' personnel pool is smaller than many peers; Greenville, South Carolina, for example, has over 1,100 employees despite a smaller land mass and population. Council asked staff to recirculate the prior comparative analysis.

Performing Arts Center Fund

The Performing Arts Center Fund includes EverPass licensing for sports programming, increased cost of goods sold for signature events, and additional seasonal staffing for the ice rink and other events. The ice rink is proposed again, with the Sandy Springs Foundation providing approximately $25,000 to offset costs. FY2026 revenues are projected to decline by nearly $600,000 due to broader economic conditions and reduced ticket purchasing; the FY2027 projection assumes additional sponsorships, increased facility rentals, and support through the Sandy Springs Foundation, plus a planned $500,000 transfer (comprising $250,000 in parking revenue and $250,000 from the General Fund) booked as revenue. Councilmember Mular questioned the rebound assumption, and staff acknowledged the projection depends on successful sponsorship and rental growth. The fund is projected to end FY2027 with a fund balance of approximately $900,000.

Fund-by-Fund Review

• Confiscated Assets Fund: court-ordered monies restricted to police or law enforcement purposes.
• Opioid Fund: proposed to support an additional community paramedic position in the Fire Department.
• E911 Fund: revenues received and transferred to ChatComm.
• Tree Fund: revenue assumptions are based on expected development activity and associated tree removal payments, generally reflecting trends from the last two years; the fund supports half of the City's urban forest coordinator position through a 50% internal transfer from the General Fund.
• Impact Fee Fund: the elevated balance is attributable to recaptured funds from the sale of park property to the National Park Service, earmarked for recreation purposes. Staff recommended no additional allocation for Trail 2C at this time, and recommended additional funding for Old Riverside Drive Park ($110,000) and transportation improvements along Boylston Road.
• Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Fund: staff noted that CDBG funding may eventually end, either through federal action or because fewer areas in Sandy Springs remain eligible. The final Section 108 loan debt service payment is expected in FY2031; if CDBG funding ends before the loan is repaid, the General Fund may need to contribute. The last grant receipt is forecast for FY2028. Council observed that losing eligibility due to improved community conditions would be a positive outcome even if it reduces funding.
• Hotel/Motel Tax Fund: revenues are projected to decline due to changes in travel and the economy.
• TSPLOST I and II: all remaining projects are fully budgeted, resulting in zero available fund balances.
• Capital Projects Fund: projects are fully budgeted even where staff do not expect all funds to be spent in FY2027, allowing the City to move quickly if project progress advances faster than expected.
• Fleet Fund: major replacement activity is planned while retaining the current fund balance to carry forward. A canine replacement is budgeted as a capital item at approximately $50,000.
• Public Facilities Authority Fund: includes expenses for City Springs, Police Headquarters, Fire Station 253, and the fleet facility.
• Stormwater Fund: fully budgeting funds transferred from the General Fund to complete stormwater projects.
• Development Authority Fund: nominal change. The Façade Improvement Program is expected to return after design guidelines are completed, likely in the first quarter of 2027; funding is budgeted as a capital assumption within Economic Development rather than in the Development Authority Fund.

Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan and Parks Discussion

Two new planning-placeholder projects were added to the Five-Year CIP: Revitalization of the Racquet Center and Revitalization of Hammond Park (with a $75 million planning projection for Hammond Park in 2029). These placeholders do not commit the City; any future debt issuance for these projects would likely require voter approval of a revenue source. Mayor Paul stressed the importance of developing a strong public justification and understanding both construction and operating costs before placing a parks bond measure before voters, stating: "I'm against putting it on a ballot and having it lose." The City's sidewalk program is now funded solely through TSPLOST; staff will facilitate a workshop in the coming weeks reviewing sidewalk investments across TSPLOST I, TSPLOST II, and proposed future funding. One Councilmember also proposed publishing a public map showing which sidewalk easement parcels have and have not been acquired, suggesting neighbors could encourage voluntary conveyance, and asked staff to bring ideas to the upcoming sidewalk workshop.

Additional Q&A

• The CRM system replaces the City's current Lucity ticketing platform and will provide better resident self-service capability.
• Website ADA compliance: some tool renewal costs remain, but most compliance work is expected to be completed by the end of the current fiscal year; the compliance deadline has been extended by one year.
• Grant-funded employees in the Multiple Grant Fund remain there through the end of the grant term (October) before transitioning to City employment.
• Fire overtime is affected by the 48/96 shift schedule; Police overtime has increased in part because some officers have been called to active duty.
• The Fire capital lease principal ($1.4 million) relates to new fire trucks; payments begin before apparatus delivery and are expected to remain relatively level as older obligations roll off and new ones are added.
• Staff is monitoring GDOT's scoping study for the Chattahoochee River SR 9 bridge replacement, seeking to coordinate bridge enhancements with GDOT's timeline rather than studying in a vacuum.
• Councilmember Kelley observed that the $250,000 annual guardrail allocation feels operational rather than capital in nature; staff explained it has historically been treated as capital because need was intermittent, though annual appropriations are now expected.

Projected Undesignated Fund Balance

The audited end-of-year General Fund balance as of July 1, 2025, is approximately $63 million. After projected FY2026 revenues and expenditures, the subtotal is approximately $65 million. The City must reserve 25% of budgeted revenues—approximately $35.1 million—as its rainy-day reserve. Approximately $29 million is planned for one-time uses within the proposed budget, leaving an estimated undesignated fund balance of zero. The Proposed FY2027 Budget is balanced, maintains the same tax rate as the Charter requires, and includes no tax increases or fee increases. The total all-funds FY2027 budget is approximately $1.156 billion, unusually large due to accounting treatment for debt issued through the Public Facilities Authority for the City Springs campus, Police Headquarters and Municipal Court Complex, and fire stations. Since incorporation in 2005, the City has invested more than $500 million back into the community, excluding the City Springs campus, Police Headquarters, and fire stations.

Key Outcomes

• No formal votes on the budget were taken during this workshop; the Proposed FY2027 Budget will be presented at a first public hearing on June 2, 2026, with the final public hearing and adoption vote scheduled for June 16, 2026.
• Staff will correct the public works subcontractor slide discrepancy (correct FY2027 amount: $6.189 million) and provide a summary of one-time uses before the next meeting.
• Staff will meet with RedSpeed later in the week regarding a one-year extension with renewal options; the agreement is expected at the June 16, 2026 Council meeting.
• A motion by Councilmember John Paulson, seconded by Councilmember Frank Roberts, to adjourn carried unanimously; the meeting adjourned at 2:59 PM.