Michael Hallman.
Ward 1 Place 1 Representative Michael Hallman, who had delayed giving a decision on whether he would seek re-election, announced today that he will be campaigning against Scott McBrayer for the office of mayor.
Hallman has represented Ward 1 for the past four years, and said he would like to improve the city's fiscal responsibility, infrastructure and neighborhoods if elected as mayor.
“The first thing that important to me is civic responsibility,” Hallman said.
Hallman said the city has $104 million in total debt, including unfunded pension liabilities, bond debt, retiree health care and general liability such as banked time off. While he said the city is financially stable, he'd like to work on decreasing that debt through "baseline budgeting," trimming 1 percent of the previous year's budget and putting those funds toward debt payment.
Based on a city audit in 2015, Hallman said part of reducing the city's budget would include looking at ways to reduce the number of city employees, which would decrease payroll, retirement and Jefferson County Personnel Board payments. Hallman said his goal is “leaving Homewood debt-free for our kids and our grandkids.”
He added that while he thinks sidewalks are important, Hallman thinks more funding should be allocated toward road improvements instead.
“I think we need to spend more than what we’re currently spending on roads,” he said, referring to the $2.4 million the council approved this budget year for paving work.
Other issues that are part of Hallman's campaign include government transparency and neighborhood preservation.
“The encroachment that the council has done into Rosedale, other neighborhoods, the NPD [Neighborhood Preservation District]… is something that we need to stop,” Hallman said.
McBrayer has been Homewood's mayor for eight years. Hallman is the only person declared to run against him.
“I’m not wanting to come in and do dramatic changes,” Hallman said.
Visit Hallman's Facebook page or follow him on Twitter, @Hallman4HWD, to track his campaign.
