Emily Featherston
The Vestavia Hills City Council held its first budget hearing on Sept. 6, hearing from different department heads throughout the city.
City Manager Jeff Downes said the city’s main source of revenue has shifted in the past few years from ad valorem tax revenue to sales tax revenues, due to more goods and services being offered and purchased in the city. The proposed budget calls for increased expenditures in the areas of fuel, due to inflation, along with absorbing health care cost increases for employees.
Police Chief Dan Rary said his departmental requests were all met with the proposed budget, including the funding for the one-to-one vehicles. That service will eventually allow each Vestavia Hills police officer to have his or her own patrol car to take home. At the end of fiscal 2023, only five officers will be left without a car, Rary said.
The budget also allows the department to implement a master police officer program, offering more leadership courses for officers. They will be the first city in Jefferson County to run the program, serving as a “guinea pig” for the county’s Personnel Board, Rary said.
Asked by Councilor George Pierce about the status of school resource officers, Rary said while the number of SROs would need to increase in the future, he is comfortable with where they are now.
City Clerk Rebecca Leavings said the budget allows the city to digitize more records. The budget also includes a new annual $3,000 expenditure for a software service that allows the city to crack down on Airbnbs, which are not allowed in the city. The city is aware of some that exist, Leavings said, and the software will allow the city to find specific locations and revenues raised by those who host Airbnbs, and to shut them down.
In the Fire Department, Chief Marvin Green said the biggest increases in the proposed budget are due to vehicle maintenance, along with gasoline and diesel costs. The department has had two catastrophic engine failures, with the fiscal 2023 budget approving the purchase of two replacement engines, though the city will not have to pay for the trucks until fiscal 2024.
Green also said the budget allows them to finish up work on a drill field and remodeling at station five.
In the Public Services Department, Director Brian Davis said the $750,000 in stormwater improvements is exciting and said there is also $1 million for street paving and funding to study aesthetic improvements to U.S. 31 on the northern end of the city, a joint project between the city and the Alabama Department of Transportation.
The department will also have a new maintenance facility come online later this year, funded in the new budget.
Davis said he also wants to add a new Amwaste team to deal with increased debris collections around March.
In the Library Department, Director Taneisha Tucker said the proposed $58,000 in capital expenditures will pay for furniture, upholstery and other related items. There will also be money for a replacement for Cinnamon McCulley’s position to help with outreach and public relations. McCulley, the city’s communications director, is set to become the city’s new assistant city manager if the budget passes.
In Parks and Leisure Services, Director Jamie Lee said the budget will allow him to examine ways to improve the Liberty Park Sports Complex. Lee also said there are some unknown costs factored in, specifically with the Civic Center, including maintenance costs, furniture costs and more. The city is also set to go out to bid sometime in September for Phase 1 of Altadena Valley Park. Lee said the city is also looking at material to possibly reduce Meadowlawn Park’s parking lot flooding issues.
The city’s Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority representative, Paige Coker, said the authority is working to reduce local costs, has acquired a $14 million federal grant for a new facility and is looking at microtransit and transit options for senior citizens.
Municipal Court Director Umang Patel said he wants to redo the courtroom to reduce the echoing, and this budget allows that to happen.
The council also heard about an increase in maintenance and equipment cost in IT and an increase in building safety employee training and fuel costs, with a decrease in that department’s office supplies and professional consulting.
The budget must be approved by the council before Oct. 1.
