Atlanta budget hits $590 million

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is proposing a fiscal 2016 general fund budget of $590.5 million, a 4 percent increase over the city’s current spending plan. A major portion of the $22.5 million in additional spending is $13 million in debt service to cover the first year of the $250 million infrastructure bond Atlanta voters approved overwhelmingly in February. “The bond will expand our green spaces and improve our roads, bridges, and sidewalks,” Reed wrote in his annual budget message to members…