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Budget hearings set for 2017 fiscal year

by

Sydney Cromwell

The finance committee has set its hearings for the 2017 fiscal year budget. The public can attend these meetings at city hall.

Mayor Scott McBrayer presented a budget totaling $61 million for the committee to review. The full council must approve its budget for the new fiscal year by Oct. 1.

On Wednesday, Sept. 7, the committee will meet at 5 p.m. to discuss the general fund and revenue sources for the budget. The mayor allocated $43.3 million to the general fund, which includes employee salaries and is the largest single portion of the budget.

On Thursday, Sept. 8, the committee will meet again at 5 p.m. to discuss capital projects, which is allocated $7.1 million. This is another portion that deserves considerable care to determine which projects will be funded in the next 12 months. Projects include the greenway, citywide paving, the Lakeshore diverging diamond interchange and sidewalks, once bids on certain projects are collected.

One potential hiccup in funding discussions, committee members said, is that the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority is asking for an 18 percent increase in Homewood's payments to continue current bus services in the city. The increase will help pay for new buses and other BJCTA improvements, but no change in services to Homewood.

The council in 2015 planned to reduce bus service due to a similar price increase, but ultimately restored the service after they were unable to find a viable transportation alternative. The committee felt that another difficult discussion with the BJCTA was in their future.

These are the remaining budget hearing meetings:

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