Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker presented a proposed $56 million budget for Fiscal Year 2017 during the City Council’s regular work session meeting on Monday, July 25.

The proposed spending plan is a 1.81 percent increase over the adopted 2016 budget.  A public hearing on the budget is set for Aug. 15 with continued discussion scheduled for Aug. 29. A second public hearing followed by adoption of the budget is planned for Sept. 19.

In preparing the budgetary blueprint, Bodker focused on addressing six strategic goals, which were developed during the City Council’s work retreat in March: transportation; recreation and parks; economic development; government efficiency; public safety; and sense of community.   These strategic goals form the basis for the budget and provide the framework to ensure the city’s tax dollars are optimized in a manner to best serve its citizens.

Among the budget highlights:

·         $400,000 – Widening Kimball Bridge Road.

·         $600,000 – Operational improvements/right of way acquisition.

·         $6.025 million – Resurfacing neighborhood streets and main roads.

·         $1.75 million – Development of Morton Road and State Bridge Road pocket parks.

·         $150,000 – Economic development implementation – site plan development.

·         $464,000 – Seven new public safety positions.

·         $1.747 million – Replacing a Fire Department ladder truck and fire engine.

·         $700,000 –  Twelve replacement police vehicles.

·         $70,000 – Four police automated license plate recognition devices.

·         $120,000 – Stacked stone benches at key street corners.

The City of Johns Creek has unveiled “Open Checkbook,” its online financial data portal that shows how tax dollars are being spent.

The interactive portal, available via the City website, allows users to browse City expenditures through a visual interface, providing a guided and transparent view of how public funds are spent.

“By providing this financial data to our taxpayers, it emphasizes the City of Johns Creek’s commitment to transparency,” said Mayor Mike Bodker. “Online engagement tools like the Open Checkbook portal provide our citizens the ability to sort through the data with ease.”

Using charts, graphs and tables, users can find payment information by department, vendor, and expenditure type and information can easily be browsed through clicks or searched using the search field.

The Checkbook feature provides a list of vendors, categories, and a description of spending, including payment details.

View the Open Checkbook portal on the City website. And, view an Open Checkbook video tutorial here.

HOA Presidents, Managers, and Residents,

On Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, the homeowners/citizens of Johns Creek will be asked to consider two votes of high interest on the general election ballot, and we want to ensure that everyone has the details they need to make an informed decision.  We would like an opportunity to meet with the residents in your respective HOA to discuss both ballot questions and answer any questions they may have.  Also, please make the information below available to as many Johns Creek homeowners/residents as possible.

Residents will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to vote for a parks bond in an amount up to $40,000,000, which will be used for the development and acquisition of parks and green space.  If the bond is approved this will allow the City to complete projects in the next five years, with the first phase beginning as early as mid-2017.  If the bond is not approved, the projects will still be addressed but over a longer period of time, and they will compete with other city priorities including public safety and transportation.  To learn more, please visit http://www.johnscreekga.gov/parksbond.

Residents will also be asked to consider a 5-year Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) to help accelerate traffic congestion relief and other transportation-related projects.  If the TSPLOST passes, residents and visitors in Fulton County, with the exception of inside the city of Atlanta, will pay a .75c sales tax.  Residents inside the city of Atlanta will be asked to consider a sales tax up to .90c.  Each Fulton County municipality has developed its own list of transportation projects to be funded by TSPLOST.  The Johns Creek City Council prioritized the City’s list into three categories or Tier-level projects.  To learn more about the proposed TSPLOST and to view details about the projects on Johns Creek’s list, please visit http://www.johnscreekga.gov/TSPLOST.

The City of Johns Creek is seeking interested residents to volunteer and participate on the Comprehensive Plan update Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC).

Adopted in 2008, the City’s Comprehensive Plan will undergo an update starting this fall. The plan – which includes the City’s vision for the future and strategies for achievement – encompasses topics such as policy objectives, future development, issues and opportunities, long range activities and more.

There will be several opportunities for the community to provide input and feedback during the updating process and the City needs residents to participate. The CAC is scheduled to meet four times during the Comprehensive Plan process, starting in September 2016 and finishing in March 2017.

Interested parties can apply to serve on the Citizen Advisory Committee. For more information, visit the City website.

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The City Public Works Department is tentatively scheduled to start improvements on Abbotts Bridge Road between Jones Bridge Road and Parsons Road in September.

The mile-long project will widen Abbotts Bridge Road (Ga. 120), plus add a center turn lane. It also will include landscaped medians and 10-foot-wide pedestrian trails on each side. The road also will be widened. The Jones Bridge-to-Parsons Road section is expected to be completed by the fall 2017, weather permitting.

“When Ga. 120 was built years ago, this was the country,” said Public Works Director Tom Black. “Now it functions as a heavily suburban arterial road, but the road hasn’t been upgraded. We plan to improve its capacity to meet its function. We also want to make it serve neighborhoods and make the landscaping more attractive as well.”

This project is part of a series of four projects for State Route 120 (Abbotts Bridge-Kimball Bridge roads) planned by the Georgia Department of Transportation and the City. It will be managed by the City while other sections will be managed by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Ultimately, the State Road 120 upgrade will stretch between Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Gwinnett County through the City of Johns Creek to Kimball Bridge Road at State Bridge Road on the Alpharetta border. Improvements to the corridor will include widening, landscaping, and safety improvements. The tentative timeline, contingent on funding, calls for all four projects to be finished in 2022.

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