City Budget
If you have budget related questions, contact Andrea Arnold, City Manager at andrea.arnold [at] decaturga.com (andrea[dot]arnold[at]decaturga[dot]com) or Meredith Roark, Chief of Staff at meredith.roark [at] decaturga.com (meredith[dot]roark[at]decaturga[dot]com) or 404-370-4102.
Where We Are in the Budget Process
The City's budget preparation process begins in February culminating with budget adoption by the City Commission in June.
Budget milestones will be listed below throughout the budget process.
| February 24 |
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| March 2 |
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| April 1 |
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| May 18 |
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| June 1 |
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| June 3 |
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| June 8 |
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| June 15 |
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Public Hearings
This year's budget and millage rate public hearings will be held in-person at Decatur City Hall as well as virtually. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings to listen and participate. To participate via the Zoom video platform, click on the registration links listed above (once available) or you may call in by dialing (929) 205-6099 and entering the 11-digit meeting I.D. when prompted. Or watch the meeting's livestream at https://www.decaturga.com/citycommission/page/streaming-video.
Background
The City's charter requires the City Manager to prepare an annual budget on the basis of estimates submitted by the directors of departments and approved by the City Commission. The budget document is the result of months of planning. The budget allocates the City's limited financial resources to provide services based on organizational and community priorities. The resulting document becomes the plan that guides departments' operations throughout the fiscal year.
The budget period is the City's fiscal year, which begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. While budgeting is an ongoing process, departments officially submit budget requests to the City Manager and the Chief of Staff, in March. The budget is typically adopted by the City Commission in June.
The revised budget for fiscal year 2025-2026 and proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 will be available for review in the Chief of Staff/City Clerk's Office at Decatur City Hall, 509 N. McDonough Street (after May 20, 2026) as well as the Decatur Library, 215 Sycamore Street.
Vision Based Budgeting
With guidance of the 2020 Strategic Plan, the annual budget is the primary implementation tool to make the community’s vision come to life. The budget links that follow highlight the six themes outlined in the 2020 strategic plan. Under each theme is a description of how the city implements the goals and tasks of that theme, past accomplishments, proposed projects for this fiscal year, performance measures and unique partnerships. We call this process Vision-Based Budgeting.