Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
18th Street Businesses
Businesses along 18th Street in downtown Homewood on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer and members of the City Council addressed rumors about the city’s finances at the April 27 City Council meeting.
According to the city leaders, there have been rumors that Homewood has exhausted its rainy day fund amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These are “unprecedented times,” Council President Peter Wright said, but the city has not needed to tap into the rainy day fund so far.
“We haven’t tapped into it, we haven’t spent a penny of it, and we certainly haven’t exhausted it,” Wright said. He then asked the mayor to elaborate on that.
“A lot of people love to take advantage of times like this and just say very uneducated things — let’s just leave it at that,” McBrayer said. “Nothing will happen to that fund without the full Council (approval). That’s the way it was set up. So the rumors of this rainy day fund being depleted and already gone and all that is really a waste of time to even discuss.”
Homewood is “financially strong,” Wright said, and will continue to be financially strong through the pandemic.
“We feel a little comfortable and blessed with where we think we stand — perhaps really blessed compared to other communities,” he said.
The finance committee will do its mid-year review at the May 4 committee meeting, said Councilman Walter Jones, who chairs the finance committee.
“As the mayor and Mr. Wright mentioned, our financial situation is really good in light of the fact of how many unemployed there are in the country,” he said.
Councilman John Hardin, who also serves on the finance committee, mentioned Momma Goldberg’s decision to keep the Homewood location open during the pandemic. The fast-casual sandwich company announced in April that it would be closing two of its Birmingham-metro franchises.
“I think that’s a good sign for us,” Hardin said. “Clearly, they like downtown Homewood and wanted to keep that one going. I thought that was a great sign for us and for our city. … But all of these folks are going to need our money as soon as we can give it to them. It’s going to be tough for a while, I think.
Homewood may see some shortages in tax collections, Hardin said.
“We’ll see where that takes us,” he said. “The good news is that you guys and all the folks before you, we’ve always had a surplus. We are in a really good financial position, and I appreciate all of you guys for that.”
The Council will meet Monday, May 4 at 5 p.m. for committee meetings. It has not yet been announced whether these meetings will take place in person or online.
The next City Council meeting will be May 12. Visit cityofhomewood.com for more information about future meetings.
