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How did Atlanta’s police and fire budgets change under Bottoms?

Matches stated direction. Atlanta’s listed Police/Fire operating budgets rose 19.1% from FY2018 to FY2022, or 17.2% from her first adopted budget. Actual spending was not checked.

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Police and fire operating budgets

Matches stated direction

What they say

Bottoms said she increased police and fire budgets by nearly 20% over her term.

What the record shows

Across Atlanta’s listed operating funds, the combined police and fire budget rose from $346.1 million in FY2018 to $412.2 million in FY2022, up 19.1%.

Limit: Using FY2019, her first adopted budget, gives 17.2%. Her calculation is unspecified. This comparison excludes separate capital and grant schedules; actual spending was not checked.

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Sources3 source records

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  1. Atlanta Press Club governor debate, October 12, 2026, about 13:02https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x8O5cq2I_k&t=782s

    Atlanta Press Club · Published Oct 12, 2026 · Reviewed Nov 1, 2026

    Paraphrase from one saved native-caption original. Budget passage at original indexes 397–399, overlapping locator 13:02.447–13:14.592; full public-safety answer checked. This is separate from the preceding firefighter-compression passage.

    candidate statement

    For: How did Atlanta’s police and fire budgets change under Bottoms?

  2. City of Atlanta FY2019 Adopted Budget, printed 57–58 / PDF 59–60 (document)

    City of Atlanta · Reviewed Nov 1, 2026

    City of Atlanta, FY2019 Adopted Budget, printed pages 57–58 (PDF 59–60), and FY2022 Adopted Budget, printed pages 55–56 (PDF 57–58), Summary of Operating Budget by Fund and Department. Sum all listed Fire Services and Police Services rows in General, Airport Revenue, Water & Wastewater and Emergency Telephone funds. Solid Waste Police is $0 in FY2018 and FY2019 and absent from the FY2022 table; no amount is added for it. Exclude unassigned citywide Non-Departmental amounts and separate capital/grant schedules. Totals: $346,080,294 in inherited FY2018, $351,718,796 in first-adopted FY2019 and $412,181,823 in final-adopted FY2022; increases are 19.1000557% and 17.1907296%. FY2022 covers July 2021–June 2022, partly after her term ended. This defined comparison does not establish her own calculation, actual spending or inflation-adjusted resources. No single action date is assigned to the multiyear comparison.

    official legislative record

    For: How did Atlanta’s police and fire budgets change under Bottoms?

  3. City of Atlanta FY2022 Adopted Budget, printed 55–56 / PDF 57–58 (document)

    City of Atlanta · Reviewed Nov 1, 2026

    Summary of Operating Budget by Fund and Department, both complete pages. FY2022 planned Police/Fire operating total: $412,181,823. Separate capital/grant schedules and actual spending are not checked; FY2022 extends partly beyond Bottoms’s term.

    official legislative record

    For: How did Atlanta’s police and fire budgets change under Bottoms?