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Photos by Emily Featherston.
The 2018 budget makes room for additional Vestavia Hills Fire Department personnel. While the salaries of the personnel are mostly covered by a SAFER grant the department received in August, the equipment and training ― like the training day the department had in May shown here ― are the city’s responsibility.
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Photos by Emily Featherston.
A faulty stormwater pipe along Morgan Drive caused a major sink hole in the parking lot of the Western Supermarket in July 2017 down the street from Vestavia Hills High School. The issue sparked discussion leading to a line item in the 2018 budget for dealing with similar stormwater infrastructure issues.
As the city moves into the 2018 fiscal year, its $38.64 million general fund budget is set to take care of the regular operations of the city, as well as add additional units to key departments.
Several large commercial developments came online during the 2017 fiscal year, including the Publix at Patchwork Farms, and along with other economic development efforts, City Manager Jeff Downes said the city has been able to maintain its roughly 3 percent growth in revenue.
For the 2018 budget, there is a 3.9 percent increase, equating to about $1.46 million in additional resources.
“I will say, that given all of the needs of the community, and the desires, and the deferred maintenance, and issues we face, it’s not enough to address all of the concerns,” Downes said, “but it does allow us to strategically and deliberately, from an operational standpoint, be able to strategically address needs.”
A significant portion of that, Downes explained, was eaten by the additional $500,000 needed to satisfy the new sanitation contract with Republic Services, with the other majority taken up by adding to city personnel.
Status of revenue, reserves
Downes said he was proud to present a budget to the council that reflects the city’s finances as a house in order, and much of that was thanks to the continued growth of both the sales tax and ad valorem tax revenues.
“That is the result of a strategic economic development plan that has – knock on wood – paid results,” Downes said.
Growth is on par with the last few years, he said, and the city has once again been able to protect the general fund reserves, which are up to more than $13 million.
Downes said that it was that reserve that helped the city earn an upgrade to a AAA rating by Moody’s Investors Service in February.
Downes said the city has had a high rating for several years, but the increase is significant because an outside entity looked at and rewarded the city for its management of tax revenue and credit. And he said that, of course, the city wants to keep it that way.
While there is always a chance that unanticipated events could require dipping into the general fund reserve, the current budget is set up to avoid that if at all possible.
“As long as the economy and as long as our economic development plan continues to move forward in a positive light, hopefully we can stay away from that,” he said.
Public Safety
A major part of the additional revenue projected for 2018 will be dedicated for use by the Vestavia Hills Fire Department and Police Department, as Downes reiterated his frequent statement that public safety is a priority for the city.
The budget allots $200,000 of additional funding for police compensation, whether that be through hiring additional officers or by paying overtime. The need, Downes said, rises not only from the amount of patrol units needed on a daily basis for adequate response times, but from multiple officers getting called into active duty in the military.
There is also funding to completely replace the entire hand-held radio system for police and fire, upgrading the equipment with P25 (Project 25) equipment that reduces the amount of interference experienced.
Self-contained breathing apparatuses will also be completely replaced for the entire fire department, Downes said, which is paramount in keeping firefighters safe on the job.
Thanks to a $309,660 federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, the city will be able to hire three additional firefighters.
Downes said in a public work session with the council that the fire department has asked for a total of nine additional firefighters over the last few years but the city hasn’t been able to provide them. This brings the budget closer to providing the personnel the department wants and needs.
Infrastructure improvements
With the summer of 2017 seeing above-average rainfall – a trend made more notable given the region went through a severe drought in 2016 – the state of the city’s infrastructure, especially its stormwater infrastructure, has come into acute focus.
“Given recent weather-related events, infrastructure improvements and human resources to develop and implement regulatory activities is a priority,” Downes said in his formal budget statement to the council.
The 2018 budget allots roughly $744,000 specifically for infrastructure improvements: $294,000 for residential paving; $325,000 for public stormwater infrastructure improvements; and $125,000 for sidewalk construction and design.
Additionally, Downes said, the city will be employing a full-time addition to the engineering department.
The new engineering technician’s sole responsibility will be to manage the city’s stormwater program, including helping on the policy side and inspecting jobs sites to ensure compliance.
There will also be two labor-focused positions added to the public services department, which Downes said will aid in actually taking care of some of the issues the city has with stormwater infrastructure.
As far as sidewalks go, Downes said in the work session that the allotted funds will help further the current projects, but eventually the council will likely need to consider some capital funding to do anything greater than what has already been discussed.
Other items
The rest of the additions to the city’s budget focus on streamlining and making workflow more efficient, as well as bringing consistency to some processes.
One information technology professional will be added to the city’s team at a fully-funded capacity, along with several infrastructure requests to increase the city’s cyber security and ability to serve information to the public.
The municipal court will receive a new municipal court administrator, a position that will support organizational redesign as well as professionalism.
Library, athletics and recreational programming staffing will also see some changes this year, Downes’ memo said, with the additional maintenance staff positions added and the pay plan at the library receiving a full redesign to discourage turnover.
City employees will also receive any merit raises and longevity pay, depending on time served and performance, Downes said, but due to the added personnel and hefty sanitation contract increase, there was no room for a cost of living raise.
All in all, Downes said the next year looks good.
“Bottom line is, the revenue trend looks positive, we’re hedged against recession and we can make careful, strategic decisions to add services or provide improved services where we can,” he said.
The council approved the budget at its Sept. 18 meeting.
