Excellence and a bright city budget report: July 2012

Dear friends and neighbors,

Each month I sit quietly in my office thinking of all the things I would like to include in the Mayor’s Minute. Usually, it is very late at night when all is quiet and the day has ended. I can only hear a few cars as they move along Broadway and occasionally the sound of a fire engine coming back quietly from a call. Sometimes I catch myself thinking about the past month, and other times I catch myself thinking of the month to come.

Most of the things I think about never make it to this publication, but it gives me a chance to think of just how much we have going for us in Homewood. It also gives me a chance to think of all the possibilities that exist and where we can be in the next five to ten years.

Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” My goal for Homewood is to be in the habit of being excellent and to create the expectation of being the best at whatever it is we set out to accomplish. So far, so good, but we have a long way to go.

It has been said the reason some people don’t go very far in life is because they sidestep opportunity and shake hands with procrastination. I enjoy serving in an environment where we are expected to meet opportunity head-on, and I enjoy working with the men and women of the council who feel the same way. I just want to take a moment and thank you for supporting us.

We have started working on the budget for fiscal year 2013, and I look forward to an exciting time to move Homewood forward again. I mentioned last month our current numbers, and as we approach the end of this fiscal year, I’m happy to report that we are now $1.6 million ahead of where we were compared to this time last year. We still have three months left and things can happen, but I continue to talk to department heads and employees about the importance of ending with a surplus. I have every reason to believe they will. Not once in the last three years have we ended in a deficit, and I don’t plan on the fourth being any different.

And again, the thanks goes to you. You have continued to shop in Homewood, buy gas in Homewood, invest in Homewood, and promote our city. You have consistently supported this city and allowed us to prosper. As mayor and council, we are charged with being good stewards of that money, and I trust we never disappoint you or give you a reason to go anywhere else.

The future of Homewood is strong and getting stronger each day, and I thank our employees and residents who have placed us in this position. With kindest regards I remain

Sincerely,

Scott McBrayer, Mayor City of Homewood