Mayor Carmelita Gumbs: South Fulton State of the City highlights balanced budget, big investments and new community programs

Mayor Carmelita Gumbs told a packed audience at South Fultons ninth State of the City that the citys finances are strong, announced a series of development and community programs and outlined a multi-year capital plan that she said will reshape public safety and amenities.

Gumbs said the city is operating with a surplus and that the municipal budget has grown to "more than $400,000,000" since incorporation. She highlighted a recently closed $96,000,000 bond intended to fund new police and fire headquarters and said the city has developed an aggressive capital improvement plan she described as "over a $150,000,000," with recent groundbreakings on both facilities.

The mayor and City Manager Sharon D. Subban presented several economic and community initiatives aimed at supporting small business growth and youth opportunity. Gumbs announced a business license amnesty program that will waive late fees, penalties and interest for prior years to give local businesses "a fresh start." She also described a paid, 10-week college internship program and a summer youth initiative tied to a police athletic league (POW) that will combine mentorship, job readiness and sports programming.

Gumbs and the city manager cited grant and operations figures to illustrate progress. City Manager Sharon D. Subban said the grants division pursued 51 applications and secured 26 awards totaling about $18,000,000. The mayor said the city has secured more than $700,000,000 in new business investment commitments and singled out an Amazon project she described as a $500,000,000 investment; those project figures were presented as mayoral statements rather than independently verified totals.

On public safety, the mayor credited local efforts with falling crime trends and new programs. She said crime "fell more than 28%" this year and that the police department has achieved a 90% homicide clearance rate. City Manager Subban highlighted that the fire department responded to more than 23,000 calls this year with an average response time of just over eight minutes and that 96% of department personnel hold emergency medical technician certification.

The address also reviewed infrastructure and placemaking work: new sidewalks on New Hope Road, progress at Clifton Dale Community Center, the Oakley Road Broadnax Bridge project, investments at Creel Park and the Southwest Arts Center, an expanded public art collection and ongoing redevelopment and blight-removal efforts including recent demolitions at Camelot Condominiums.

Gumbs closed by promoting new transparency and engagement tools. She said the administration will relaunch an "Open South Fulton" portal to let taxpayers see how dollars are spent in real time and announced a "Soul Food" mobile app for event and emergency notifications. She framed the initiatives as part of a broader message that the city is "on the rise," and urged residents and investors to participate in forthcoming community town halls taking place in neighborhoods.

Next steps noted in the address included continued capital project work, community town halls beginning this summer, and the implementation of the business amnesty and internship programs. Several numerical claims and investment totals were presented by the mayor and city manager during the address; the article attributes those figures to the speakers and does not independently verify them.