City prepares to finalize FY 2021 budget
Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer presented the budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year at the Aug. 31 City Council meeting.
McBrayer first got elected in 2008, and for the 12th year in a row, he has presented a budget with surpluses. McBrayer did not win the reelection this year, so this will be the last budget McBrayer presents to the council.
“My goal with this budget that I'm going to present tonight is to put the next mayor and the next council in a position to finish with a surplus if it’s important to them,” he said. “I feel like if I can do that, I can go to sleep at night, and I get to enjoy fishing.”
The city projects almost $60 million in general fund total expenditures in 2021.
The city has $62.8 million in cash on hand as of June 30. This includes an $11.4 million reserve for economic uncertainty, which the mayor often refers to as the “rainy day fund.”
The capital projects fund has $9.5 million budgeted for total expenditures. The mayor highlighted four capital projects for the upcoming year: the Lakeshore Diverging Diamond Interchange, the 18th Street renovation, the Green Springs Highway renovation and the Samford Pocket Park.
The total amount of projected money going to the Homewood Board of Education amounts to $18.7 million. “And they’re worth every penny of it,” McBrayer said.
The budget will next go to the Finance Committee, and Finance Committee Chair Walter Jones will schedule budget hearings. The first meeting will be 4 p.m. Sept. 8, Jones said.