Mayor Curry gives 2025 state-of-the-city address to chamber

by

News

Vestavia Hills continues to experience steady economic growth, and that’s making it possible to continue providing a high quality of life for residents, Mayor Ashley Curry said in his 2025 state-of-the-city speech to the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce Tuesday.

Curry, speaking in the banquet room during lunch at the Vestavia Country Club, said the city’s sales tax revenues are up 5.25% from last year to about $30 million, and due to conservative budgeting, the city expects to end the year with a $1.75 million surplus.

“Help us keep that rising by shopping locally,” he told the crowd.

The simplified sellers use tax, which is a tax for online sales, has brought in about $3.6 million for fiscal 2025, which is up 13% from the previous year, Curry said. When that tax first was instituted in 2018, it brought in about $20,000 per month, but now it brings in about $300,000 a month, demonstrating the growth in online sales, he said.

Because revenue growth usually follows new construction, the signs for continued future growth are there, Curry said. City officials like to have about 80 residential and commercial new construction permits a year, and in fiscal 2025, the city had 103 new construction permits issued, he said.

Due to conservative budgeting, the city also has been able to maintain a AAA credit rating with the Fitch and Moody’s Investor Service agencies, which is something few cities in Alabama have, Curry said.

“We would not have that if we were not fiscally responsible and had sound financial practices,” he said.

With this year being the city’s 75th anniversary, Curry also took time in his speech to share about the city’s growth over the years.

The city started with 600 people in 1950 before U.S. 31 was even completed, Curry said. The portion of U.S. 31 through Vestavia Hills was completed in 1954, while Wald Park opened in 1962 and the city’s first library opened in 1969 as a combined library and civic center, he said.

The city passed a property tax increase in 1970 so it could create its own school system, and the school system continues to be the No. 1 reason people move to Vestavia Hills, the mayor said.

In 1992, the city’s population grew to about 16,000 with the annexation of land for Liberty Park, and in 2002, the population grew to about 25,000 with the annexation of Cahaba Heights, he said. Vestavia Hill’s population today is about 39,000 people, he said.

The city has had nine mayors in its 75 years, and in 2010, residents elected to switch from a mayor-council form of government to a council-manager structure, which is one of the best decisions Vestavia Hills residents have made about their government, Curry said.

“This is the most effective and efficient form of government,” he said. He noted that when Homewood voted last year to change to its structure to a council-manager form of government, people there called it the “Vestavia model.”

“It’s not exactly like ours, but it’s pretty close,” Curry said. “If we weren’t setting a standard, then other cities wouldn’t be switching to our model.”

The Vestavia Hills Police Department has grown to 110 sworn officers, and the work of those officers help the city consistently be rated as one of the safest cities in Alabama, Curry said.

The department is the only one in the area that participates in the state’s master police officer program, and 84% of Vestavia’s officers have completed that program, which provides additional training, he said. Because officers who complete the program earn a 5% pay raise, it helps with retention in an era when law enforcement agencies across the country are struggling to keep positions filled, he said.

Vestavia Hills established a paid Fire Department in 1960 with three full-time firefighters at Station No. 1, and now the department has grown to five fire stations, Curry said. The department has a Class 1 rating with the Insurance Services Office, which only 1% of fire departments nationally have, he said.

The city recently was able to add three new fire engines and on Monday the City Council voted to accept a $1.6 million federal grant to help the city hire 12 new firefighters for Fire Station No. 4 in Liberty Park, Curry said. Keeping updated equipment and sufficient numbers of firefighters is one of the ways the city is able to maintain that strong rating, he said.

With excellent schools and park and recreation amenities, “the city continues to offer a quality of life that is second to none,” Curry said. “We’ve realized sustained home values with a robust housing market, and we experience other quality of life factors that make us a place people want to call home.

“Simply put, your city is in great shape,” Curry said. “I’m very proud of our city, and I think we are positioned for another great 75 years.”