The Atlanta Police Department plans to spend $54.6 million more than they did last year, a 15% jump.
The increase is part of the $3 billion total operating budget that Mayor Andre Dickens is asking the City Council to approve, a move that would raise the city’s general fund budget by 14% to $975.4 million. The City Council will vote on the budget in early June for it to take effect on July 1.
In total, the proposed police operating budget of $361 million would make it the second-most expensive city department behind the Department of Aviation, which operates Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Critics have accused the city of continually inflating APD’s budget even as crime rates have continued to drop. The city is currently facing a $20 million deficit for the current fiscal year.
“Despite spending more money on policing than the majority of other cities in this country, Atlantans continue to suffer under the weight of racialized poverty and state violence,” said Tiffany Williams Roberts, public policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights. “Atlanta needs decarceration, housing, food security, and education, but spending for those items pales in comparison to spending on a police force that has recently forced the city to enter into a record settlement for abuse.”
During the APD budget hearing, Chief Darin Schierbaum told the City Council that the budget increases were needed to facilitate the department’s growth and pay for a temporary increase in overtime.
“We’re going to have to be a world-safe city,” said Schierbaum, referring to his department’s preparations for the 2026 World Cup. “We don’t know who’s coming here to cheer on their team but we’re literally going to have the globe back in Atlanta, so this budget will allow us to be one safe city for the world.”
The bulk of the APD’s budget increase would pay for the three areas where costs, APD projects, will increase the most – personnel, purchased and contracted services, and supplies.
The council is expected to vote on the budget ordinance at its June 2 meeting. The mayor is scheduled to approve or veto the ordinance by June 11.
No public comment is allowed during budget sessions, but the City Council will hold public budget hearings on May 21. From 6 to 6:15 p.m. there will be time for the public to speak on the tax millage rate, and from 6:15 to 7 p.m. there will be an interactive community budget session.
Members of the public can also submit questions in advance up until May 20. Written questions and 15-second video submissions can be sent to budgettalk@atlantaga.gov. Other comments and questions can be left as a voicemail message at (404) 330-6043.
A deeper look at the APD budget
- Personnel costs – including salaries for sworn and civilian employees, overtime, pension, health benefits and workers’ compensation – will increase the most. In the proposed 2026 budget, APD’s personnel costs will go up $44 million. The additional money for personnel would primarily fund the hiring of more sworn officers. The department is expected to add a net of 17 full-time employees, growing to 2,826 full-time staff members.
- The second-largest increase in the budget is for purchased and contracted services, which would increase by $12.5 million to $35.2 million. These services include body cameras, cloud storage, and other services purchased from Axon, a weapons and technology company for law enforcement and military. This also includes the radio system for officers to communicate and the more than 20,000 public and private cameras that the department co-manages with the Atlanta Police Foundation.
- Supplies will receive the third-largest budget increase, nearly doubling last year’s price tag to land at $8.8 million. This money will be used to purchase uniforms, tactical gear and ammunition for the officers and the Public Safety Training Center.
- Another big ticket item in APD’s budget is fueling and preventative maintenance on police vehicles like squad cars, armored vehicles and helicopters. In 2026, the expense will increase $1.8 million, but it will be the third-largest item in the entire APD budget, costing almost $12 million.
