Forging ahead

The 2019 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, is expected to see the completion of a number of major, multiyear projects around Homewood, from a new police headquarters and an interchange redesign at Lakeshore Parkway to a new pool and revamped athletic fields.

The Homewood City Council was set to approve its 2019 budget at its Sept. 24 meeting, after the Homewood Star’s press time. Through presentations from the mayor and a number of Finance Committee meetings, the budget has taken shape.

Daily operations

2019 is expected to be a banner year for revenue coming into the city, with projected revenue totaling around $78 million, in addition to $55 million from the city’s 2016 bond issue being used on capital projects. This includes $5.1 million in ad valorem property taxes for Homewood City Schools, nearly $32 million in sales and use taxes (divided between the city and school system), $3 million in lodging tax and $4.3 million in business license fees.

Finance Director Robert Burgett said Sept. 10 that Homewood had an unprecedented 10 percent increase in sales tax revenue for its general fund from the 2017 fiscal year to 2018.  

He and City Council members were cautious about relying on such a large bump, but they said it could bode well for the city’s ability to complete more projects.

“Revenue is up considerably over last year … which was really unanticipated, and it’s a blessing for the city,” Burgett said.

The general fund, which pays for Homewood’s day-to-day municipal operations, is budgeted $52.7 million in 2019. This includes $10.6 million for the police department, $7.4 million for the fire department, $4.7 million for parks and recreation and $2.6 million for Homewood Public Library.

The city plans to pay $15.1 million in debt service in 2019. This includes payments on the $110 million bond, taken out in 2016, financing Homewood’s parks and public safety headquarters projects. 

The funds to pay off that bond come out of the city’s 1 percent sales tax increase, also approved in 2016, but since sales tax revenue has outpaced projections, the city budget document shows a transfer of $3.6 million from debt service to the capital fund.

The Homewood City Schools system will receive about $16.9 million from the city, of which roughly half comes from sales tax revenue and half from property tax revenue.

If projections and expenses match up, the city will end the year with a surplus once again, which Mayor Scott McBrayer said he wants to use for employee bonuses and about $400,000 to remain as a surplus for the next year.

New facilities on horizon

Construction is nearing completion for the improvements at West Homewood and Patriot parks and the new public safety headquarters on Bagby Drive, which are all part of the capital projects for 2019.

Parks and Recreation Athletic Director Jakob Stephens said the city will be given the finished Patriot Park pool and aquatic center sometime in November. At a Sept. 10 budget hearing, Parks Superintendent Berkley Squires said his department is hoping to open the new splash pad by mid-May 2019, though the rest of the pool won’t open until Memorial Day.

Patriot Park also had a new playground structure and soft surface installed in August.

At West Homewood Park, Stephens said the new athletic building and athletic field updates are also progressing well and should be completed by late January or early February 2019.

The Homewood Police Department is expected to complete their new headquarters in August 2019, which will combine police, training, court and jail functions into a single location on Bagby Drive. 

The additions at all five Homewood schools, which are funded from half of the $110 million bond, are expected to wrap up by January 2020, Superintendent Bill Cleveland said on Sept. 17, though some work at the elementary schools may extend into the 2020-21 school year. Homewood High School’s two-story addition on the north side of the building has increased in estimated costs from $23 million to $29.5 million, Cleveland said, due to work on the school’s chillers and extra square footage for the fine arts wing.

Any funds left over from the bond after these projects are complete will likely be put toward sidewalks or other city projects, based on past comments by McBrayer.

Pathways, roadways

The capital projects fund for 2019 includes a number of projects to make Homewood more walkable and drivable.

Homewood’s 2019 budget includes $20,000 for a citywide traffic plan and $1 million in street paving. The city has been working with Volkert Engineering for several years to determine paving priorities, and Squires said the city will meet with Volkert after the budget approval to review the paving list and find out where utility companies have plans for work that may tear up pavement.

The diverging diamond interchange at Lakeshore Parkway and Interstate 65, which has been under discussion with ALDOT since 2014, is expected to begin construction this year. Director of Engineering, Planning and Zoning Greg Cobb said ALDOT has set bid dates for the project in January 2019, and the city has budgeted $838,000 in construction and $66,600 in engineering costs for its portion of the funding. Ward 3 Rep. Walter Jones said the city is waiting to hear from ALDOT about a possible “swap” in ownership of Green Springs Highway and Lakeshore Parkway, which would put the diverging diamond project costs solely in ALDOT’s hands and Homewood would take responsibility for Green Springs’ upkeep.

The beautification project for 18th Street, between Rosedale Drive and downtown, has nearly $200,000 budgeted for 2019. The project includes new parking spaces, landscaping, sidewalks and lane redesign along 18th Street. Cobb said he expects construction on that project will likely not begin until 2020.

For pedestrians, several new projects are on the books in 2019. The city has allocated $249,000 for new sidewalk construction and $100,000 for sidewalk repairs. Work on portions of sidewalks on Saulter Road began in September, and Cobb said Rumson Road is the next priority for the city.

The City Council will review its sidewalk priority list to determine the next phase of projects after these are complete.

The budget includes $200,000 for construction of the pedestrian bridge at Hollywood Boulevard over U.S. 280, which, with cooperation from Mountain Brook, Birmingham and ALDOT, could see work begin at the start of the year. There is also $18,650 to add a crosswalk and pedestrian traffic signals across Shades Creek Parkway at the Marriott Hotel.

Ward 1 Rep. Britt Thames also requested $12,000 to fund an APPLE (Advanced Planning, Programming and Logical Engineering) study  of reconnecting Central Avenue, either as a footpath or a possible road, where it is divided near 28th Avenue South.

The budget includes funding for the next phase of the Shades Creek Greenway: $780,000 for construction and $417,000 for design. That project has been stalled for several years due to problems with acquiring right-of-way access for the new trail. However, the council expected to sign an agreement for the last property access needed, at a cost of $118,000, in late September so work could begin.

Other ’19 budget projects

In addition to roads and sidewalks, the city’s $8.2 million capital projects fund includes some smaller projects that got the green light from City Council.

The 2019 budget includes $200,000 for storm sewer and drainage repair, near Brookwood Medical Center and some homes with drainage and flooding issues. The city hired Walter Schoel Engineering in August to study problems on Huntington Road and Bonita Drive, and the company’s senior project manager, William Thomas, said Walter Schoel expects to present findings and potential solutions this fall.

The police department requested to purchase $200,000 in new detective equipment, $105,000 in new special operations equipment and $280,000 in vehicles for 2019. Sgt. John Carr said the department wants to purchase a Skywatch mobile tower, which allows officers to watch activity across a large area, as well as rifles, ballistic protection and new marked and unmarked vehicles. 

He said the Skywatch tower would likely be put to use at large events such as We Love Homewood Day or in shopping districts during the holidays, and it can be staffed with an officer, cameras and license plate readers.

The library has also requested $1.4 million for an addition to its Oxmoor Road facility. This request has been considered but not funded by the City Council for several years. A 2017 report from the library described the project as a 3,000-square-foot expansion on the Ridge Road side of the adult department, which would allow the library to reconfigure some of its space and add more study rooms, storage, meeting rooms and expand the outdoor courtyard. According to the report, it has been more than 20 years since the last major building project at the library.

Visit thehomewoodstar.com for notes from the Sept. 24 meeting, when the City Council was expected to approve this budget.