Mary Norwood

Mary Norwood is a member of the Atlanta City Council. She was elected in 2013 for the city-wide Post 2 seat and was sworn in on January 6, 2014. She was a 2009 mayoral candidate in Atlanta and a city councilwoman in Atlanta, Georgia, representing Post 2 At Large prior to running for Mayor. Norwood was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 2001.

Mary Norwood has been involved with the City of Atlanta for the past 30 years, beginning as a community activist. In 2009, she ran for Mayor of the City of Atlanta, but eventually lost to Kasim Reed in a runoff election.

According to an investigation by the staff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, campaign records show that the Georgia Democratic Party spent at least $165,000 to attack Reed's opponent, Mary Norwood, and contribute to an unprecedented eight percent jump in voters for the runoff held on 1 December 2009. Reed won the mayoral runoff election by about 700 votes after trailing Norwood in the general election by more than 7,000 votes.

If she had been successful in her mayoral bid, Mary Norwood would have become Atlanta's first white mayor in 36 years.

Norwood received 46 percent of the vote on Election Day, the largest proportion of all the candidates, but as no candidate received a majority (more than 50% of the vote), she entered a runoff election on December 1, 2009. However, Kasim Reed received more votes in the runoff, and, after a recount, Norwood conceded.

Norwood campaigned on a platform of fiscal responsibility, and in a political advertisement she asserted that the city of Atlanta had misplaced $100 million. However, the city administration disputed the claim, explaining that $116 million was borrowed from the Watershed Management Department for city projects, and the money is being repaid by those departments.

Norwood voted against the tax increase proposal in June 2008, which did not pass. The City of Atlanta then responded by slashing public safety personnel and imposed a 10 percent pay cut on city workers to balance the budget. In both instances, Norwood instead asked the City to reduce its spending on areas other than public safety personnel.

The City of Atlanta’s budget was said to be balanced for several years. However, by March 2009, Atlanta’s bond rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s, a key credit rating agency. This downgrade resulted from four years of operating deficits, as well as longer-term pressures associated with the Atlanta’s underfunded pensions, police overtime, and subsidies to several funds. Atlanta’s solid waste and capital finance funds were also downgraded.

In June 2009, the City Council voted 8-7, to increase the Atlanta property tax rate for general operations from 7.12 mills to 10.12 mills, a 42 percent increase. Atlanta is one of the few big cities nationwide to raise property taxes this year. Mary Norwood voted against this increase, insisting that there was money to be found within Atlanta’s budget.

Mary Norwood attended Sweet Briar College, is a graduate of Emory University, and has been an Atlanta resident for 35 years. Her husband, Dr. Felton Norwood, was a pediatrician at Piedmont Hospital for more than 30 years. She was born in Augusta, Georgia.