Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover Council President John Lyda and Council President Pro Tem Curt Posey participate in a special council meeting to pass the 2025 budget on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.
The Hoover City Council on Friday night passed a budget that calls for spending $184 million from government funds in fiscal 2025, which begins Oct. 1.
With expected revenues of $179 million and $2.1 million in projected tax rebates to various companies, the city will have to pull $7.4 million from the city’s fund balance to cover expenses in governmental funds over the course of the year.
City officials expect to take in $170 million in revenues for the general fund and spend $163 million, which by itself would leave a $7 million surplus. However, several other planned movements of funds would actually leave the general fund with $6 million less than projected at the beginning of the fiscal year.
The plan is to transfer $6.5 million from the general fund to cover shortfalls in some special revenue funds, transfer $4.4 million into the capital projects fund and pull $3.6 million from the city’s budget stabilization fund to cover costs. The end result would be a $6 million decrease in the general fund balance, leaving the general fund with $66.8 million at the end of fiscal 2025.
The city’s overall balance for governmental funds, which includes the special revenue funds and capital projects fund, would decline by $7.4 million to end the year with $161 million.
The City Council did make some changes to the mayor’s original budget proposal. Those changes included:
- Reducing the city’s contribution to the Hoover Area of Commerce’s Elevate Hoover fundraising campaign from $300,000 to $100,000.
- Removing $100,000 for remodeling of the Finance Department conference room to make room for new Finance Department employees
- Removing one of four new Finance Department positions the mayor had proposed, leaving three new positions in that department for fiscal 2025, plus another Finance Department employee the council added on Aug. 29 (in fiscal 2024)
- Removing a new custodial supervisor position the mayor had proposed
- Deleting ice machines the mayor had proposed to purchase for the Fleet Department
- Adding positions for a new fire inspector, police lieutenant and public works equipment operator
- Upgrading a position in the Hoover Municipal Court
- Upgrading a position in the Public Works Department from a crew leader job to a supervisor position
- Adding $160,000 for a park renovation project in Bluff Park
The net financial impact of all those changes was an additional $20,000 or so in costs, officials said.
Councilman Derrick Murphy said he would have liked to have seen some money put in the budget to conduct an inventory and condition assessment for the city’s stormwater infrastructure. He also questioned whether the city should find more money to buy a new rescue unit to handle medical calls for the Fire Department. He encouraged his fellow council members to take another look at funding those items after they see how tax proceeds go in the Christmas shopping season.
Councilman Steve McClinton said he would like the council to revisit the 1.5% cost-of-living salary increase for city employees that is in the budget because he would like to see it be higher.
“I do know that we have other cities around us that are giving a lot more, and I think that being in Hoover, if you want to keep the best employees, you’ve got to pay the best and give the best,” McClinton said. “I would like the council to revisit our six-month reserve, not to squander it because it’s the envy of most cities in the Southeast, … but that six-month reserve, while well-intended and wise, also has some consequences to it. … To me, we should be able to tweak it. … Having a reserve is a great thing, like having an emergency fund, but if you can’t use it, what is it for? It’s like my wife’s fine china cabinet. We haven’t used it in years.”
Mayor Frank Brocato said he was glad he and the City Council were able to work together to come up with a budget that was mutually acceptable.
The 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment for city employees will raise the city’s personnel costs by $1.35 million in fiscal 2015. A 5% step raise that most city employees will get will add another $4.3 million to personnel costs, which are expected to total $92 million, he said. The city has about 700 employees, he said.
The city’s personnel costs have risen 35% since 2020 (from $68 million to $92 million), records show. Meanwhile, operating costs have increased 57% since 2020 (from $30 million to $47 million), records show.
The $184 million in total budgeted expenditures for governmental funds for 2025 represents a $10.4 million (6%) increase from the original 2024 budget.
