Hoover officials set hearings to discuss 2018 budget

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato plans to present his 2018 budget proposal to the Hoover City Council at the Sept. 5 council meeting, City Administrator Allan Rice said.

The City Council then will hold budget hearings where department heads talk about their budget requests on Sept. 11-12. The hope is that the council can have a chance to make any revisions it wants to the mayor’s budget in time for the council to adopt the 2018 budget at its Sept. 18 meeting, Rice said.

The city administration strongly wants to get the budget in place prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, Rice said.

Budget hearings on Monday, Sept. 11, are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and run until 4 p.m., while hearings on Tuesday, Sept. 12, are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 pm.

Exact times for various department are being reworked due to a schedule change on Monday, so as not to conflict with the city's Patriot Day ceremony at Hoover Fire Station No. 2 at 8:30 a.m.

The budget hearings with department heads are open to the public for observation and will be held in the William J. Billingsley Council Chambers.

The City Council approved its 2017 budget in March — about five months into the fiscal year. The City Council that was in place for most of 2016 delayed consideration of the 2017 budget to give newly elected council members a chance to set their own priorities once they took office in November.

The 2017 budget, when it was first approved in March, provided for $133 million of expenditures. That was a 2.8 percent increase from the original $129 million budget approved for 2016 but less than 1 percent more than actual 2016 expenditures of $132 million.

The 2017 budget called for $112 million to be spent from the general fund and $12.9 million to be spent on capital projects. The budget has been amended numerous times since March. Read more about the 2017 budget here.

This post was updated on Sept. 5 due to a change in the start time on Monday, Sept. 11.