State of the City Address, new police statistics in Homewood
Dear friends and neighbors,
On Jan. 20, I had the privilege of giving our State of the City Address at The Club to a great audience. I appreciate so much the Homewood Chamber of Commerce supporting this event each year. It gives me the opportunity to brag on Homewood and all that has happened within the past year, and it also gives me a platform to discuss all the great opportunities that lie ahead for us as residents and business owners.
As a side note, I need to correct myself on last month’s Mayor’s Minute. I gave statistics last month that were month-to-date numbers for the police department instead of year-to-date as I stated in my article. I apologize if it confused any of you to read those statistics.
This past year the City of Homewood’s Police Department dispatch answered the call 38,759 times. That is an incredible amount of calls. I have been telling you in previous articles how busy they have been, and the numbers prove it. During that time, the police stopped 16,492 vehicles and issued 11,212 citations. Our busiest shift is the evening shift that operates from 2:30 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. The officers arrested 750 felons and made 2,245 misdemeanor arrests. Motor vehicle theft is up just over 12 percent, and we are working hard to decrease that amount.
Please help us by locking your vehicle at night and taking your valuables out of your car. The vast majority of vehicles stolen were because keys were left in the car and the doors were unlocked.
We have also added a third canine, Banjo, to our police force, which gives us a dog on each shift. He, Justice and Shiloh are valuable resources on traffic stops when we believe drugs are involved.
The City of Homewood’s Fire Department dispatch sent trucks out 3,703 times this past year. Of those calls 99 were fire calls, 18 were severe weather calls, 344 were to assist and 2,362 for emergency medical assistance. The department also responded 93 times to hazardous condition calls. In addition, the fire department invested a total of 62,044 hours conducting training in fire suppression, EMS operations, technical rescue operations and hazardous materials operations.
Homewood firefighters also attended numerous specialized training courses at the Alabama Fire College including Structural Collapse, Trench Rescue, Confined Space Rescue and Rope Rescue. They performed operational maintenance and painted 697 fire hydrants, tested over 4 miles of fire hose, and inspected 3,120 businesses, including 240 pre-fire planning visits to numerous schools, churches, and homes around the city.
And finally, the city has a brand new 100-foot aerial platform truck that will serve its residents for many years to come.
I also promised in earlier editions I would provide some end-of-year numbers for your review. I’m pleased to announce the city ended the year with another surplus totaling just over $410,000. When we started the year, there was a projection that we would have to use $1.5 million in carryover fund balance, but it was not used. We were able to cut expenses throughout the year and still managed to provide $350,000 in bonuses to employees and transfer $500,000 into our capital projects fund — and still leave the $410,000 surplus.
For the past six years since I became mayor, our city has averaged $958,762 in surplus revenues over expenses, and I am so grateful for the hard work of so many who helped to achieve this for our city. Homewood was once again blessed in 2014, and I look forward to many new opportunities in 2015. The city council and I ask for your continued prayers as we move forward in this New Year that we make wise decisions that enhance our city for the benefit of everyone living and working here.
Sincerely,
Scott McBrayer
Mayor
City of Homewood