1 - Ivan Allen, Jr. Digital Collection - Georgia Institute of Technology

8y1lAAlC: EZElLAtlanla Cit y CouncilmanArthur Langford Jr. 'I1utlbyp-opoeed that the city give hisempIo)'er $2:00,000 for I'UlU1lDi• youth services program.Langford Is youth aervIaesdirector 01 the Butler streetYMCA, but he said he wou.Idnot penonaUy control. anymoney which the dt)' mIgbtlive to the y.He I('ts no confllct of tnte'­eat In asking fcr the moneyLangford said. "I woWdn'ivote on the paper If It cameup. rut WOUld be the onlyoonfllct of ln~," Lt.ngfordsaid.Coundlman R1ctun1 Guthmancame dote to disagreeing.uylna the request was•• mOl t Inappropriate,"9oilet.hv' It Is a conflict ofintfftSl or not.The proposal is sponsoredby Langford and CouncilmenJames Howard • n d JamesBond. Langfonhpoke for it atTh11r1day's ITIfletiI'll of t h.council's finaflQe commitf~.The committee toot no aetionon the resolution. klhna:Langtord tf) preltnt it at MIII~day's met'tiDg 01 the full c0uncil.Resolutions can be IP.proYtd with Gnly one rtadi~.whlch melUl3 the papH" couktmnt'tivably get final actionat that meeting.Langford proposed to ear·mart the $2OO,OIXI from a$521>-1XIO sum v,hich has beenrtturned to the city from Ec0-nomic Opportunity Atlanta(EOA).HIs proposal would ba\'e theother $3:1Jl,OOO gOing to the Departmentof Community andJbnan Development, to beused specifically r 0 r youthservia! projects conducted byprivate, non-profit organl:r.a·!Joos.The Butler Street hadearlier put In a request for$115,000 from the flInd whichthe city annually allocates toa fariety of social servu:t!,cultural and trade organlza-"""'.About J) other agencies arealso V)'lCIg for that money.The requests total 13.9 millionand the administration hassuggested 0 Diy $460,0lI0 beawropriated for those pur-""".Landord said his orlgtnalIntention was to suggest matthe money go to the Departmentof Community andHum a n Development loryouth programs.But there was so much oppo!itionto city partklpratlonin sodal service programs,Langford added, t bat beC!ha~ed to a suggestion ofgiving the motley to outsideagenc:lu"We've got to do somethlngabout savlne the children ofthis city," Langford said.But sevft'al muncilmen2-A .. *.Thursdoy, Dec. 12, 1974i!)tlUhmIa: lourmtl~FA'ONTARnlUR LANGFORD J"d.SUn Oootroversydisagreed. Guthman, astlngunusually pointed questkmS tobring out Langford's employment.said the money shouldgo back Into the pot and alldty youth service agenciesahouki get some consider&­Uoo.X:;I'lOliA~..,r'.26.. A TnF. A1l.' ","T.\ rO"\'O:l1n.i10:"'. frld.y. D~. 13, 197'----Budget----:"'rom Pall" I~\tion after the six-to-one defeat It suffered.As a result of the committee's actions,• the city's anticipated re\'enues for 1975 fall$2.75 million short of !he tentative budget.AL'eording to Finance Commissioner CharlesDavis, that amount would !\ave to be cutfrom the city'S 1975 budget If the full CClUncilapproves the committee's decisiOns.After several hours of discussion Thursday,the comrniUee ranthrough the fivemoney papers in quick succession.The first was a proposal from CouncilmanQ. V. Williamson tMt would ha\'e givenapp-oval to the three-mill tax hike.Wben the vote was called after a briefdiScussion. only Williamson raised his handin favor. The six other coounittee members-Carl Ware, GuUvnan. Cotsakis. HughPierct, Ira Jackson and. (lBirman E.Gregory Gri~ll \·oted in opposition.The three-mill tax bOOst ..... as designed toproduce 1975 revenues or $83.2 million, whichwhen added to a year-end surplus of abOut$6.5 million ..... ould have SUPPOrted the $89.7million budget backed by the mayor, Davisand Planning and Budget CommissionerLeon Eplan.But Griggs had sounded the bell·f1(lle of~ition e\'en before the meeting beganwhen he read a statement accusing JacbOnof U'iing "scare tactics" to back the boOstGriggs bad concluded. "I cannot see myway to go along with the mayor's request."The second paper was Guthman'sproposal to approve the 1.04-milis adJust.­ment needed to pre\·er.t a $2.2 million IOSIS ofre\'enues ereiited by tbe DeW homesteadH:ernption.The three-IG-two vote fouoo Guthman,Jackson and GriAA! in support, Williamsonand Cotsakis opposed and Ware and PierceabstainlftC·Gulhrnan's paper on sanitary servicerates was eritlciled sharply by Williamsonand Ware. who charged it would hit low-incomeAtlantans harder than the wealthy. Ilwould "increase lhe burden of taxation onthe poorest people in the city," Ware said.Williamson quickly added, "'lUxes thepoor and exempts the fillhy rich!"The paper was dereated, with onlyGuthrnan voting in favor. Coiaci abstaInedand the fh'e other eomrrultee membersvoted nay.Gulhman said the measure was designedto produce aboul $3.7 million in revenue,acting as a substiwie for the esumattd.. million that ..... ould have been gainedthrough the lhree-mill inertaSe.In the most surprising vote of the rnet't­Ing. appro\'31 was rendered to a plan toforce all cily emp~ to take five days ofunpaid vacation next year on lhe schedule ofooe day off dtnng each of the last fivemonths.Jule Sugarman. the mayor's lop aide,sat in on the meeting and immediatelybranded the proposal as an effecth'e 2 percent pay cut, since it would deprive city employesof a full week's pay.'Ibe \'Ote on the measure saw Griggs,Guthman, Ware, Pieo:e and Jackson Infavor, with Cotsakis and Williamson opposedGuthman, who introduced. the unpaidvacation plan. said it would cut about $1.2.3million from the 1975 budget. , •The fifth and last paper, a sweepinR,generalized measure by Co\sakill, wouldhave resulted In the firing of about 500 cityemployes, he said. Cotsakis told fellow committeemembers, "All of you will admit prtutelythat City Hall is overloaded" withemployes.The \·ote on the measure ended in a tiewith Pierce, Guihman and Cotsakis in favorand Wan, Jackson and Williamson opposed.Griggs. as chairman, broke the tie and defeated1M controversial paper.According to Davis. the commlUee actionslea\'e the 1975 budget $2."", rn.ilIion ··outof balance."