Hoover mayor proposes record $139 million budget for fiscal 2019

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Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato tonight presented a $139 million fiscal 2019 budget proposal that he says would strengthen public safety and raise employee salaries to attract more and better candidates for city jobs.

The budget proposed to the City Council includes 13 new full-time employees, including four police patrol officers, four firefighters, two school resource officers, two public works crew workers and an accountant.

Also, four part-time school resource officers would be converted into two full-time SRO jobs, and the city would add two part-time park patrol officers, two part-time couriers and two seasonal public works crew members.

Some of the new full-time jobs were made possible due to the proposed elimination of five other full-time positions, including an assistant library director, senior public safety telecommunicator, court analyst, risk management claims adjuster and senior administrative assistant.

The proposed budget also includes more than $1 million in new vehicles and equipment, including a fire engine, hazardous materials unit and nine Chevrolet Tahoes for the Police Department — all of which are replacing older models.

Brocato’s budget also includes $1.5 million in salary increases that were recommended for many city employees by a consultant who compared salaries of Hoover employees with those in similar cities and similar private sector jobs. The mayor said he hopes these increases will help with employee recruitment and retention, and once again make Hoover the “employer of choice.”

The mayor anticipates spending a record $117 million from the general fund, $12 million from special revenue funds and $9.8 million from the city’s capital projects fund.

The expected record $125 million in revenue for the general fund was made possible due to increases in sales and personal property taxes and a $2 nightly room fee for lodging facilities that were approved by the City Council in July.

Without those tax increases, the city would have faced cuts in services, no new employees and perhaps no capital projects, Brocato said. Tonight, he thanked the council again for taking that difficult step.

The projected $125 million in revenues for the 2019 general fund compares to $111 million that was originally projected for the 2018 general fund. Chief Financial Officer Melinda Lopez said that $14 million increase includes $11.3 million due to the upcoming tax increases and $2.6 million due to normal increases that would have come without the tax increases.

The mayor plans to transfer $3.2 million of that revenue into special revenue funds and $2.5 million into capital projects and end the fiscal year with $500,000 more in the city’s general fund than at the beginning of the year on Oct. 1.

The city for many years has increased its general fund balance by $100,000 each year and transferred everything else to capital projects, but Brocato said he wants to start increasing the general fund reserves a bit more.

He proposed to spend about $7.7 million in capital projects, including:

  • $2 million for street paving
  • More than $1 million for the previously mentioned vehicles
  • About $1.2 million in improvements at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex (including a new scoreboard at the stadium)
  • $960,000 in additional money for widening Valleydale Road
  • $500,000 in additional money for improvements on South Shades Crest Road
  • $463,000 for information technology improvements
  • $450,000 for a virtual critical incident simulator and furniture at a planned police training facility
  • $420,000 for phase two of a new street lighting system on U.S. 31 between Patton Chapel Road and Interstate 65
  • $250,000 for building maintenance at the Hoover Public Safety Center
  • $200,000 for drainage improvements on Marywood Lane
  • $150,000 for intersection signal modifications at U.S. 31 and Deo Dara Drive
  • $130,000 for a new playground surface at Veterans Park
  • $120,000 to complete an upgrade of an Inverness sewer pump station
  • $100,000 for improvements at Georgetown Park

There were more than $28 million worth of capital projects requested by department heads that went unfunded for 2019, and there are $40 million more worth of capital projects expected to be needed between 2020 and 2023, Lopez said.

About 51 percent of the $139 million in total anticipated expenditures — or $71.2 million — is recommended to go toward payroll.

That’s a $3.5 million increase from the original fiscal 2018 budget and includes the $1.5 million in pay raises and step increases associated with the pay study, $790,000 in already scheduled step increases, $631,000 in additional retirement costs, $537,000 for new positions and upgrades and $423,000 for the workers compensation fund.

City employees would not get a cost-of-living adjustment, but they also would see no increase in health insurance costs.

About 56 percent of the city’s salary and benefit costs are to fund the police and fire departments.

The mayor asked the council to review his proposal and pass a budget before the new fiscal year starts on Oct. 1. Hoover Council President Gene Smith said the council may not be ready to pass a budget by the Sept. 17 council meeting and may have to call a special meeting to get a budget approved before Oct. 1.

This article was updated at 10:34 p.m. with additional information.