Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato proposes $146 million budget for fiscal 2020

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato on Thursday night proposed a $146 million city budget for fiscal 2020 that he said includes a focus on traffic management, education and public safety.

The $146 million he proposes to spend in the year that begins Oct. 1 includes $124.6 million from the general fund, $14 million from special revenue funds and $7.9 million from the capital projects fund.

Brocato said his No. 1 priority with this budget is traffic management. One of the largest capital expenditures in his budget is to make $2 million available to purchase more land needed to create a new Interstate 459 interchange just west of South Shades Crest Road, plus potentially another $1 million in 2021.

The city already spent $2 million to buy 31.3 acres on the south side of I-459 and now is negotiating to buy land on the north side of the interstate, City Administrator Allan Rice said.

There are numerous traffic challenges in western Hoover, and a new interstate interchange is the ultimate solution to improve traffic flow there, Brocato said. State and federal officials are receptive to the idea, but Hoover’s argument for the interchange is greatly strengthened if it can say it already has all the land needed for the project, he said.

The mayor also proposes to make another $1.25 million available for a project to add a second northbound lane on South Shades Crest Road. That project initially was estimated to cost $3 million, but construction costs have escalated, and city officials now believe it will cost closer to $5 million, Rice said.

The Jefferson County Commission has agreed to pay $1.5 million toward the road widening, and city officials are hoping the commission will continue to pick up half the cost, Brocato said.

The mayor’s budget proposal also includes $175,000 to upgrade the traffic signal at U.S. 31 and Braddock Drive, $110,000 to evaluate traffic signal timing at 104 traffic signals and $110,000 more to improve traffic signal vehicle detection at intersections along John Hawkins Parkway near The Grove, Interstate 459 and Stadium Trace Parkway and other intersections along Stadium Trace Parkway.

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SAFETY

Brocato said education also is an important part of his budget. He wants the city to continue to give $5 million to the Hoover school system and spend about $2 million to provide school resource officers for Hoover schools.

The city and school system several years ago split the cost of school resource officers, but the previous mayor and City Council decided for the city to take on the full cost.

The mayor and council elected in 2016 has since added more school resource officers, making sure there is an officer on duty at each school anytime school is in session, Brocato said.

The proposed 2020 budget includes money for a school resource officer at the new Riverchase Career Connection Center. Because school began Aug. 8, the Police Department already has shifted an existing officer there, but money has not yet been approved to fund a new position, Rice said.

Brocato’s 2020 budget proposal also includes $248,000 to hire three new emergency communications officers. The dispatch center had requested five new people.

Brocato said that is a high-stress and very difficult job, and with the increase in cell phone use, the amount of phone calls coming into the dispatch center during emergencies is overwhelming.“They are the front line of our first responders,” he said. “We need to make sure that part of our public safety system is staffed properly so they can respond to police officers and firefighters in the field.”

The City Council last year funded eight new firefighter positions to improve manpower response in western Hoover and prepare for a new fire station expected to be built soon, and has funded at least 16 new police officers in the past four years, Brocato said.

Now it’s time to add more dispatchers to support them and the public, he said.

The mayor said he also is committed to continuing to focus on employee recruitment and retention by funding $1.4 million worth of step pay increases.

The overall proposed payroll budget is $76.5 million, which would be a 7 percent increase from the original 2019 budget. That includes $447,000 for the three new emergency communication officers, the new school resource officer, a new part-time contract manager and upgrades of several positions, and $354,000 to cover additional health insurance costs.

Department heads had requested that a total of 32 new employees be added, but the mayor’s budget would fund only five new positions.

Councilman Derrick Murphy said he was expecting to see more funding for public safety, noting Police Department requests for four more police officers and two more detectives.

Brocato said the council has the discretion to add more positions but noted that each police officer costs the city $140,000 considering salary, benefits and a new Chevrolet Tahoe. He believes police and fire staffing levels are adequate for now, once a new school resource officer is added, and that his overall budget for public safety is strong. Sixty-one percent of all salaries and benefits go toward police, fire and other public safety jobs.

His budget also includes $720,000 to replace 15 police vehicles, $520,000 to replace a fire pumper truck, $220,000 to refurbish or replace three other Fire Department vehicles, $539,000 to upgrade the emergency operations center and expand the 911 center, and $278,000 to replace mobile data terminals in 92 police vehicles.

GENERAL FUND INCREASE

The $125 million in proposed expenditures from the general fund compares to $118 million in the original 2019 budget that was approved a year ago. However, the increased costs include $884,000 in additional operating expenses at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, for which there are corresponding additional revenues expected now that the entire complex is fully operational.

Extra unusual expenses expected for 2020 include $365,000 for the 2020 city election and an expected citywide vote on a 2.4-mill property tax increase for schools and a nearly $200,000 increase for transit services provided by the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority.

The federal government determined the transit authority was incorrectly using federal money to help pay for certain things, so now the transit authority is having to recalculate the amount that cities are being asked to contribute toward routes, Rice said. Also, Hoover for the first time is being asked to help pay for its share of the transit route along U.S. 280, he said.

Councilman Curt Posey said he was concerned about the increase in transit costs and believes city officials need to discuss that more.

TAX INCREASE EFFECT

Proposed new expenditures are being made possible by tax increases approved by the council in July 2018. The council voted 4-3 to raise Hoover’s portion of sales taxes and tangible personal property taxes from 3 percent to 3.5 percent and to create a $2 nightly room fee for lodging facilities in Hoover.

With nine months of increased sales taxes collected and six months of the new lodging fees collected so far, Chief Financial Officer Melinda Lopez said she expects to end fiscal 2019 with an extra $11 million to $12 million due to those tax increases. A similar amount is expected for 2020, she said.

That’s right in line with the $11.3 million that she had projected when the new taxes were approved.

OTHER CAPITAL PROJECTS

The mayor’s proposed budget also includes $3.1 million for street paving, striping and patching, $1.95 million from the sewer fund to replace a sewer pump station in Inverness, $1.5 million for a new computer software program, $585,000 for improvements at Hoover parks and recreation facilities, $150,000 for drainage improvements, $150,000 more for a sidewalk on Alford Avenue and $125,000 to renovate part of the Hoover Public Safety Center for a Municipal Court referral program.

Brocato also proposes to spend $75,000 for a study to determine if the city could achieve significant service improvement and savings by handling its own garbage and recycling pickup, $35,000 for a feasibility study for a performing arts center and $25,000 to find a site for a library branch in the U.S. 280 corridor.

The mayor said he would have loved to been able to fund all $39 million worth of capital requests from department heads, but the city was only able to afford about $13 million worth of capital projects (including money from all funds) and had to set priorities.

He said he always tries to deliver a conservative and “structurally balanced” budget and to have it ready in time for the council to consider and approve before the fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

He also proposes to add $500,000 to the city’s reserve fund in 2020 for the second year in a row, which would leave the city with $33.2 million in its general fund at the end of the year. For many years prior, the city increased its reserve fund by $100,000 every year.

Council President Gene Smith said at first glance, the mayor’s budget looks very positive, but “we’ve got to get down into the weeds” and study it closely before making a final determination.

The line-item budget typically is 6 inches think, and he wants to review it carefully, he said. He believes the council should be able to vote on the budget by Oct. 1, but if council members feel they need more time, they could pass a motion to continue with the 2019 budget temporarily, he said.