Proposed city budget ‘conservative,’ although city has not seen financial drop-off despite COVID-19

Vestavia Hills City Manager Jeff Downes said while the city is doing very well despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the fiscal year 2021 budget is still conservative, due to the unknowns of how the pandemic will affect the city going into the future.

Downes said the city has not seen a decrease in tax revenues due to COVID-19, and that sales tax revenues for August actually doubled. The city is poised to end with the strongest surplus in its history, he said.

Still, with the future still up in the air and the pandemic still affecting the country, Downes did not propose greatly expanding the city’s budget for the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

“All we’re doing here is being a little bit modest,” Downes said.

The proposed budget, approved at the Sept.14 Council meeting, anticipates a 3.5% increase in revenues compared to fiscal year 2020’s budget; however, that amount is still 2% less than what the city actually collected during the 2020 fiscal year, Downes said.

Compared to actual 2020 revenues, the proposed budget anticipates a 3.4% decrease in sales tax revenues but anticipates no drop in ad valorem tax revenues. The move is simply to be conservative due to the unknowns of the pandemic, Downes said, as he does not feel the city will sustain their current level of success for the entire fiscal year.

The goals of this year’s budget are to grow and respond to the city’s public safety department and meet public demands, Downes said. With the fire department recording more 911 calls and the police stretched thin over the city’s wide geographic footprint, there was a documented need to add more personnel and equipment.

The city is adding a medic unit [an ambulance], and halfway through the year, will add three firefighters and two new police officers, with plans to add four more in coming years, Downes said.

The savings from a new sanitation contract with Amwaste helps pay for that, Downes said. With roughly $164,000 in savings, comparing the Amwaste contract to the old Republic contract, the city received a boost to pay for the public safety upgrades, Downes said.

In addition to adding police officers, the city will also change how police vehicles are managed. Historically, police cars are “hot-seated,” Downes said, meaning when one officer finishes his or her shift, the next officer takes over. But, because that leads to a shorter lifespan for the vehicles, Downes said the city will now have each car assigned to an officer. The city will also purchase 20 police cars, when they normally purchase five, he said.

The total cost of the upgrades to the police and fire departments, including equipment and personnel, is $450,000, Downes said. That does not include the cost of the cars, which is $1.3 million.

The budget also anticipates making purchases to hire personnel to oversee and supplies to maintain new facilities like the new New Merkel House, Cahaba Heights Park, the first full year of the Vestavia Hills Aquatic Complex and, toward the end of the fiscal year, the new community center, Downes said.

There is about $125,000 set aside for those expenses, with about $30,000 to $50,000 in new revenues coming in with tournaments coming to the area. The pool is expected to bring in about $100,000 in revenue through memberships.

The budget also calls for $200,000 in facility upgrades at the library, $250,000 in upgrades at city fire stations and $850,000 in upgrades to the turf at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex.

The budget can be found on the city’s website at vhal.org/departments/finance/financial-statements/.