November 11th Mayor and Council Meeting Notes
Tuesday, November 11th, 2025
The Mayor and Council met in a special called meeting Monday night to hold a public hearing for review the proposed 2026 budget. The meeting was open to the public and also was livestreamed on the City's social media channels. The proposed budget is available for inspection during normal business hours at City Hall and can also be viewed online by clicking here. The Council will consider a vote on adopting the proposed budget at their meeting on Monday, November 17th. The meeting will be held at 6:00 pm in the Raymond A. Elrod Council Chambers.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH MONDAY NIGHT'S MEETING
The work to create the proposed budget began in August. City Administrator Andrew Parker and Chief Financial Officer Cindy Jackson developed parameters for each department's budget after studying projections for the City's revenues and expenditures for 2026. In September, the City's departments submitted budget requests and began a series of meetings with the administration. The process of ironing out the final budget proposals continued throughout the fall.
Caption: City Councilmember Nicky Lama (left) and Mayor Annalee Sams (right) listen to a question from Councilmember Steve Farrow (not pictured) during Monday night's budget hearing
The 2026 budget forecasts expenditures in the amount of $49.82 million dollars which is an increase of 7.5% over 2025's budget. City Administrator Andrew Parker told the Mayor and Council that some of the drivers of that increase include a 35% increase in the City's health insurance plan. Initially, the increase was greater but the City's Human Resources Department has implemented plan design changes in an effort to control cost increases. The budget also forecasts a 19% increase in costs of insurance for City's property and liability policies as well as anticipated utility rate increases for electricity, water, and wastewater services. The budget also once again fully funds the Dalton Police Department for 90 sworn officers and 3 new school resource officer positions. In recent years, the DPD has not been fully staffed due to employee departures and recruiting challenges in the industry. The budget also adds a new facility manager position in the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department for the John Davis Recreation Center which will open soon. A special events/community engagement coordinator position has also been added in the Administration Division. To watch Parker's presentation, click here.
CFO Cindy Jackson told the Mayor and Council that her staff prepared the budget with the assumption of an increase in tax revenue of 3 percent or approximately $763,000. Jackson said that she anticipates that the taxable digest would need to increase by 9 percent in order to utilize the rollback property tax rate. The City anticipates added revenue from a new policy of charging for hosting public events in City parks, closing roads, etc. The City also anticipates a 10 percent increase in facility rentals in the Parks and Recreation Department. The budget also expects added funding from the transfer payments, with a forecasted $2 million transfer from the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Management Authority and a $185,000 increase in the transfer payment from Dalton Utilities. Jackson told the Mayor and Council that the budget draws approximately $800,000 from the City's fund balance to balance the budget. Jackson told the Council that the reserve fund had a balance of $27.8 million at the start of 2025, of which $25.9 million was unrestricted. To watch Jackson's full presentation of the budget, click here.
On November 3rd, the Mayor and Council voted to set the rollback rate for 2025 property taxes for City of Dalton maintenance and operations. That vote extended the City's streak of either holding property taxes steady or decreasing property taxes in Dalton. The City of Dalton has adopted the full rollback rate in 12 of the past 22 years, and there were also 10 years in the past 22 where the City was able to set the millage rate below the rollback rate. The City of Dalton has only had one property tax increase in the past 22 years.
