Mayor gives 2017 budget presentation

Budget work sessions are set to begin in the city council's finance committee after Mayor Scott McBrayer presented his budget proposal at the Aug. 29 council meeting.

McBrayer said his presentation was a "10,000 feet down" look at the budget as a big picture, not small details or specific line items.

The total proposed budget for fiscal year 2017, which starts in October, is $61 million. This is an increase over the FY 2016 budget, which totaled $57 million.

The proposed budget includes $43.3 million in expenditures for the general fund. The mayor said he projected 6.5 percent merit raises and would encourage the council once again to use the surplus for employee bonuses. Bonuses this year were given based on tenure, maxing out at $2,000. The mayor said Homewood is receiving a wellness discount on insurance but premiums are still likely to rise 6.5 percent.

$6.3 million is allocated to the debt services fund and $7.1 million to capital projects. McBrayer said a few of the major items in the capital projects budget include funding for the Greenway Phase II construction, the citywide street paving project, the Lakeshore diverging diamond interchange project and a $56,000 city match to create a Homewood master plan.

McBrayer said that the Board of Education would receive $16.5 million in FY 2017 from a portion of sales and property taxes.

The first finance committee meeting will be Sept. 6. At that time, the committee members will set the schedule for the rest of their budget work sessions. The FY 2017 budget must be approved by Oct. 1.