Mayor proposes $57 million budget for 2016

Budget talks are beginning again for the city of Homewood. Mayor Scott McBrayer gave his initial budget proposal for the 2016 fiscal year at a specially called meeting on Aug. 31. The budget totaled $57.4 million in expenditures, with an expected surplus at the end of the year.

The proposed budget is a 2.5 percent increase over the FY 2015 budget. The mayor gave only a cursory overview of his proposal, which will be discussed in more depth in city council work sessions.

McBrayer's proposal included $4.85 million for capital projects, including phase 2 of the greenway project, sidewalk construction, a new fire engine to replace Homewood Fire Department's Engine 1 and 15 new Chevy Tahoes for the police department. He noted that the council could choose to delay some projects until the next fiscal year and lower that expenditure.

The total suggested allocation for all police and fire expenses was around $20.4 million, which McBrayer noted is higher than some cities comparable to Homewood. However, he said that having Brookwood Hospital, Samford University and other large institutions in the city necessitated a larger public safety budget.

The school system would receive $15.9 million from the city, taken from sales and property taxes.

Homewood's insurance premiums for city employees will increase by 7.8 percent in the new year, which McBrayer wants the city to pay for rather than passing the cost on to employees. He also requested a 1 percent cost of living adjustment for full time employees and allocation of over $200,000 for merit raises. If there is a surplus at the end of the year, McBrayer said he will request that it be used for an annual employee bonus.

Some of the surplus would also go into the city rainy day fund. Over the past three years, the surplus has ranged from a low of $279,000 to a high of $2.1 million, averaging $937,000 per year. The mayor said it takes about $100,000 to run the city each day, so these savings are critical for the city.

The council will hold its first work session to discuss the budget on Tuesday, Sept. 1. A budget must be approved before Oct. 1.

“I think it’s something the council can be excited about for one. It’s something you can be comfortable with,” McBrayer said.

“There are a lot of cities and counties that are proposing increases in sales tax and things like that," Ward 3 Representative Walter Jones said at the close of the presentation. "I just make the point that we’re a penny below our neighbors already [on tax rates] and we devote that penny to the schools. I think it says a lot about the city and how we manage our money.”